


Fabricated World

by pharaohkieru



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Crossover, Horror, M/M, Suspense, and a little thirsty, did i say a little i meant very, yuugi is sassy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-12
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2018-07-23 12:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7463046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pharaohkieru/pseuds/pharaohkieru
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuugi wanted something interesting to happen in his life, but being thrown into a crazy haunted art gallery may be a little too much. At least the guy he's stuck there with is attractive.<br/>This is just a big reference to the Indie RPG Horror game Ib, which you should play.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Into the Abyss

**Author's Note:**

> special thanks to my good friendo soporificsweetheart for proof reading <3

Nothing seemed to catch his interest these days. Yuugi had become very bored, not even able to find joy in mastering a new video game or completing a complex puzzle. Even being around his beloved friends had lost its touch, becoming more tedious than anything. Yuugi loved his friends to the very bottom of his soul, but something just seemed off. He needed something to grasp his attention.

Art was always fascinating. At the promise of a gallery of art from an artist who had just recently passed away, whose art had never been seen in the public eye, Yuugi couldn't help but accompany his friends down to the strange building that was nestled in the woods on the outskirts of town.

“Let's get some pamphlets at the reception desk,” Tea was saying, Joey and Tristan mindlessly following behind her. They didn't seem as thrilled as Yuugi to be here, but they had accompanied them anyway, never passing up a chance to hang out with their friends.

“I'm going to go on ahead,” Yuugi replied, his eyes already flipping back and forth between the staircase and hallway, trying to decide where he should go first. Above the hall leading to the lower floor read “The Gallery of Maximilian Pegasus” in intricate lettering. The white walls were almost glaring in the florescent light.

“All right,” Tea responded, pulling the other two boys with her, “We'll meet up in the exhibit later.”

Yuugi gave a nod and walked off towards the hallway. He wanted to hang out with his friends, of course he did. He loved them, but there was just something about wandering the hallways of an art gallery without Joey pointing out every painting of a naked woman and making lewd comments about it with Tristan.

So, Yuugi wandered the bottom floor first alone, taking in all the strange paintings and sculptures this place had to offer. It was all so alluringly absurd, from a sculpture of a huge purple rose, to a painting that covered the entire floor of one room.

Yuugi paused to look this painting over. Deep, dark blues blended into black, a strange creature with hollow black eyes and fearsome teeth grinning back at him. It made Yugi dizzy, putting an anxious pit in his stomach and causing him to grip the velvet rope surrounding the display a little tighter. He glanced at the plaque that would tell him the name of this piece. _Abyss of the Deep_... Yes, that seemed fitting.

He met up with the others a short while later, only to part with them once more when they wanted to remain on the first floor, and Yuugi was ready to make his way up to the next story. The lights seemed even harsher up here, where there weren't any windows save for one just at the top of the staircase. Outside, the sun shone weakly through the leaves of the trees, thick grey clouds covering most of the sky. Perhaps rain was on the way.

He paced along past the window, taking in the paintings that lined the wall beside it. So entranced by the sickening beauty of a sketch of a beautiful, sorrowful blonde woman, Yuugi didn't notice the man eyeing the painting beside it until he awkwardly brushed against him.

“Oh, pardon me,” Yuugi muttered, but the man didn't seem to pay him any mind.

The stranger's eyes were focused in on the painting before him, jaw set in deep thought. Yuugi was slightly relieved to not have to converse with him. The man, with dazzling bronze skin and intense reddish-brown eyes, was a bit too handsome, and Yuugi was sure he'd find himself making a fool out of himself, lost in this man's beauty just as the stranger was lost in the depth of the painting before him.

Yuugi's eyes shifted to study the piece. Within, a man was strung upside-down by his feet with a thin red string against a dark teal background. His face, vaguely defined and lacking any intense details, still screwed itself in a way that made him look unsettling, expressing fear without eyes or a mouth. The plaque beneath read _The Hanged Man_.

Yuugi didn't like looking at it, and would prefer to put some distance between himself and this stranger who was making his skin uncomfortably flushed. So, he turned, walking in the other direction.

He found many more unsettling displays, from headless mannequins dressed in simple frilled dresses of primary colours, to a painting of a woman with lovely, long brown hair and with eyes so red Yuugi half-convinced himself they were tinted with blood. With shivers running up and down his spine, Yuugi tried his best to stay out of the hall with that woman and her peculiar smile.

He was peeking around a mother and her child to admire a painting of a black cat's eye when Yuugi noticed an empty hallway just to his left. The exhibit had become a bit too crowded for Yuugi's taste, and finding a hall where there weren't at least a dozen people crowded around one painting was rare. Perhaps this hallway would be the ideal place to sit and wait for his friends, so he could feel a bit more comfortable in the hustle.

He wondered why no one had bothered to explore this area of the exhibit. It was barren, save for a huge landscape piece covering most of one wall. Yuugi came to a pause in the middle of the hallway. Tilting his head, he took a step closer to inspect this strange piece. All of Pegasus's other works were so defined and life-like, even the more fantastical ones holding some breath of realism to them. But this painting was different in looking as if a child had scribbled with a large crayon over the canvas.

The world within the painting was mostly dark. Blacks and greys and browns all collided haphazardly, tinted with blues and greens and yellows. Yuugi could pick out a crudely drawn rose up in the top left corner, a hobbled crescent moon splashed onto a patch of pink in yellow, and a red and black piece that could almost resemble the disconcerting painting of the red-eyed woman.

Something about this piece was dizzying. All the colours seemed to swirl about, swimming through Yuugi's vision in a nauseating sea of child-like passion and wonder. Giving himself a shake, Yuugi screwed his eyes shut for a moment, tearing his eyes away and gripping the strap of his messenger bag tightly with both hands. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes, and he cast his gaze to the golden plaque set beneath the painting.

_Fabricated World_

Yuugi blinked... or did the lights flicker? He glanced up, and sure enough, his question was answered by the tell-tale flickering of the fluorescent bulbs above him. It caused the painting to become even more unnerving, so Yuugi started to trot down the hallway, back to the crowded main area of the exhibit. Perhaps he should find a worker, tell them that the lights in the hall with the strange moving crayon painting were faulty.

It was then that Yuugi realised how sickeningly quiet it had become.

Where there had once been bumbling crowds were now only empty reflective tile floors, glaring harshly in the overbearing light that had once been dimmed by the sheer volume of bodies. The heels of his boots clacked against the floor, each step echoing around him, only amplifying his anxiety that had settled like a pit in his stomach.

He tried to breath, tried to suck in all the air the cavernous room had to offer. He couldn't panic, not now, not about something so potentially silly. Everyone must have just gone downstairs. Maybe there was an event happening on the lower floor he hadn't been aware of.

Forcing himself to move, Yuugi made his way back. Back past the strange statue of a melting blue woman, past a painting of an eye too close in perspective for comfort, past a sculpture of an oddly formed couch, dented in the middle as if its only occupant were a phantom.

Yuugi glanced out the window at the top of the stairs. He tried to blame it on the coming rain and late summer heat that it was so fogged over he couldn't see to the outside.

It was fine. Everything was fine. Everyone was downstairs, including his friends. Maybe he could convince them to stand outside the building for just a few minutes, where the air wasn't so thin and didn't taste of painting oils.

Yuugi trotted down the stairs, his delusions of safety promised at the bottom of the stairs shattered when he was only met with the same cold silence as he reached the bottom.

The whole building was empty.

Yuugi hesitated at the bottom step, his hand clutching at his chest, feeling as if he let go his rapidly beating heart would break free of his ribcage.

It was okay. It was fine. Everyone had just gone outside. Something was happening outside. He'd just leave. It was fine. It was fine.

But it wasn't fine.

When the sole of Yuugi's shoe touched the floor, the lights flickered once again, and the exhibit was blanketed in a soul-shaking darkness.

Panic rose like bile in Yuugi's throat. He knew he hadn't been here very long, knew that someone should’ve swept the area and found him to tell him that the exhibit was closing. This wasn't right. This wasn't fine. This was bad.

Every hair stood up along Yuugi's freckled skin, and he rushed past the unmanned information desk, trying to ignore the poster that bared the abyss-dwelling, Cheshire-cat-smiling creature. He hurried to the double doors that would lead to freedom, freedom from this horrid place.

The panic crushing his chest only grew more intense when he found the doors unmovable.

“No...” Yuugi could barely mutter past the lump in his throat, past the dull, aching dread settling right over his thundering heart. But something broke inside of him, something that made his voice screech right through everything. “No, no no no! NO, let me _OUT_!”

This was some cruel joke. Some disgusting prank Joey or Tristan or some other sadistic fuck had played on him just to see this very reaction. Hot, terrified tears started to pool in Yuugi's eyes, and he pounded on the door with his fists, begging for some benevolent god to take pity on him, just this once.

Another sound harmonized with the banging of his fist, and Yuugi froze.

It was soft at first, almost inaudible if Yuugi's senses weren't on maximum in his panic. It was hard to tell, but after a moment, Yuugi could distinguish what he was hearing over his own haggard breathing.

Footsteps echoed around him from somewhere within in the exhibit.

Yuugi was desperate. Perhaps some worker was here to make a sweep of the area after all, or one of his friends had found another way in to see if Yuugi had been left behind.

Yuugi ran through the lower floor of the exhibit, turning around corners and trying to avoid staring at the paintings that seemed to watch his every move with mirth. He especially did his best to avoid the Abyss of the Deep.

No matter where he turned, the footsteps always seemed to keep the same distance as they had before. Yuugi ran back to the entrance hall, back to rush up the stairs. Perhaps whoever it was had taken to searching the upper floor, and they and Yuugi has just missed each other.

His boots clacked against the hard surface of the stairs, echoing around and mingling with the soft footfalls of whoever else was here. He turned to make his way through the upper story, when he paused, cold horror coursing through his blood.

A shadow had passed by the solitary window at the top of the stairs.

Every heartbeat seemed to take a millennium, sending roars through his ears and it pumped fear with every painful beat. Turning back, he wondered if there was any way someone could be lurking just on the other side of the glass panel, trying to find a way in. Maybe a catwalk or fire escape of some kind.

Creeping over to the window, Yuugi tried to look out. But whatever had fogged it over earlier remained persistent, obscuring any hope Yuugi had to seeing what was beyond. He reached out trembling hands, trying to pry open the window, but it stuck fast. No matter what Yuugi tried, the window remained obstinately shut. Yuugi turned with a defeated sigh, deciding it was best to resume his search for the source of the still echoing footsteps.

His search was hurried along when a sudden loud banging nearly sent his heart shooting from his mouth. It was loud and harsh, and when he turned, Yuugi saw a black handprint where had been unbroken, cleanly fogged-over glass.

Holding his hand over his mouth in an attempt to keep everything inside, he ran.

It was all in vain.

The footsteps continued to stay as far away as ever. They were a constant, misleading rhythm, only making Yuugi's lingering, sickening anxiety grow until chill bumps crawled up and down his skin like insects, and his clear thoughts ran away with ideas of what the owner of these ghostly footfalls would do if they ever decided it was time to come for him.

He found himself back in the hallway of the Fabricated World. The painting loomed, abrasive and unsettling as ever, stark against the white wall. But something was different.

Just below the piece, it appeared as if blue liquid leaked from just behind the picture's stunning, intricate golden frame. Yuugi took a step closer to inspect it, only to pause when watery thuds slammed behind him.

_Thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud._

Nine thuds echoed behind him, like someone slapping a wet hand against the linoleum floor. His body didn't want to move, but Yuugi forced it to, every breath agonizing.

Around him, red paint splattered about. It was paint. Yuugi forced himself to believe it was paint. Drops of the liquid seemed to glow around him, illuminated by some unearthly evil, but almost seeming childlike in their haste.

Scrawled out between the splatters of liquid were two words, smeared onto the floor.

_C O M E Y U U G I_

Yuugi retreated, smacking against the wall, his lower back jabbed uncomfortably by the protruding frame of Fabricated World. He felt numb from the top of his head to the tips of his fingers. He slid down, his whole back rubbing painfully against the picture frame until he sat on the floor, those hollow footsteps still deceptively far away from him, the words before him an invitation. To what?

Another sound caught his attention, one like a small finger rubbing softly against the wall beside him. Just as he turned his head, the sound stopped, and where the strange blue liquid had been a stain on the wall just a moment before, it was now smeared on the wall, written in the same sloppy lettering as the floor.

_come down below yuugi  
i'll show you someplace secret_

“What the fuck...” Yuugi's whisper was cracked and deep. He dragged himself back to his feet, almost dancing to avoid the paint- _dear gods did he hope that it was fucking paint_ \- that splattered the floor. “What the fuck, what the _fuck, what. The. Fuck._ ”

Down below. Come down below. What did that mean? Was there... a basement? Some floor hidden beneath the earth where someone was waiting to hush Yuugi to sleep with drugs, ready to pick his brain for the sheer pleasure of watching Yuugi squirm and piss his pants.

He wishes those footsteps would fucking stop.

Fine. If whoever wanted him to come down below really wanted him to, he would. He'd fight tooth and nail if it meant he could escape this nightmare. So, he slowly made his way back to the other end of the upper floor, back towards the stairs, for the second time.

Along his way, the truth of his situation showed itself in ways.

He passed the painting of the cat, and swore he heard the small tinkling of a bell, followed by a small, pitiful mewl, vying for attention.

He ignored it.

He passed the painting of a bowl of fruit, and watched as an apple rolled from the top of the heap, forming into a solid and crashing to the ground, splattering in a mess of red.

He ignored it.

He passed the painting of a man, and jumped when a hacking cough interrupted the rhythm of the footsteps.

Closing his eyes and picking up his pace, he ignored it.

He'd reached the stairs, and averted his eyes from the hand print still set in the middle of the opaque window.

He walked down, glancing around, a dull hope still somewhere within him that maybe these haunting footsteps belonged to someone who could save him from playing whatever fucked up game was going on. But still, they stayed off in the distance.

Yuugi tried the front doors one more time, then set off back to the lower floor of the exhibit.

He didn't have to search for long before he found something strange.

It was by Abyss of the Deep. Of course it was, of course this painting that seemed to hold some sort of horrific fucking substance was the one that was off.

Around the front of the display, near a painting of a blue, featureless child playing a pianoless set of keys being scolded by his also featureless red mother, a section of the dividing velvet rope had vanished.

Yuugi walked around the edge, trying his best to avoid looking into the hollow eyes of the nightmarish creature below.

On the floor, by the edge of the floor mural, were two perfect shoe prints, painted in the same blue as the words beneath Fabricated World.

Yuugi had to stop. He had to think. His breathing came in shallow wheezes and he could feel his fingernails digging bloody crescents into his palms. What were his instructions...? Come down below.

Surely this fucked up fabricated phantom of his didn't expect him to jump into a painting. There was no way. He'd seen some strange fucking things in the last little bit of time, but there was absolutely no sense in trying to jump into a painting.

Could the phantom hear his thoughts?

It must be able to, because suddenly, the footsteps were faster, frenzied, and coming closer. Panic once again gripped at Yuugi's whole body, and there was suddenly plenty of sense in jumping into a painting, and he acted on instinct.

With a wail loud enough to wake the dead, Yuugi bolted forward, his feet meeting perfectly with the painted soles on the floor, and he all but dove into the Abyss of the Deep, the creature welcoming him with a hungry grin.

He heard a splash, but didn't feel himself get wet. He could breath, but bubbles fluttered around him in the stretching darkness. Blues and blacks faded around him, and the Cheshire-cat-smiling monster fish was nowhere to be seen.

He floated. Floated down, down, down below, down to whatever new horrors awaited him.


	2. Through the Anthill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is... very long. there was a lot i needed to get through so i just barfed it out into one long chapter. i hope it can at least be entertaining to you guys. this was edited by my friendo soporificsweetheart/soporificsweetart on tumblr, who was a super special awesome help.

The darkness around him was endless, stretching off into a void. Yuugi could see his hands, his arms, his feet as he braved a glance down. Below him, nothing but the same emptiness. Looking up gave him the same result. Bubbles of air floated up around him, as if he were submerged in water, but he could breathe. Despite the fact that his lungs seemed to want to contract, making his breaths quick and shallow, Yuugi could breathe.

Panic crushed at his chest, so he tried harder to even out his breathing. He screwed his eyes shut, running his hands through his hair, balling them into fists and pulling ever so slightly.

“I'm okay,” Yuugi muttered, keeping his eyes closed, trying to ignore the feeling of his slow decent and the strange gurgling of the air bubbles. “I'm okay, it's just a dream. Everything is going to be okay. I'll wake up, and I'll be home, and safe, and not here. It's okay.”

He could feel the tightness in his chest lessening. Of course it was a dream. This was a ridiculous (albeit terrifying) dream that Yuugi was bound to wake up from, find himself safe beneath the covers, with no phantom chasing after him, and no endless void surrounding him.

Just as he'd accepted this, Yuugi felt his feet connect with something solid. His eyes opening, he struggled to keep his balance, finding himself on a step of a staircase. For a moment, Yuugi battled with the sudden increase of gravity, trying desperately to stop himself from tumbling headfirst down the stairs.

With a breath of relief, Yuugi finally managed to balance himself, putting a hand on the wall of the staircase, now trying to steady himself mentally.

Glancing around, Yuugi saw nothing to clue him in on where he was. Everything around him was a solid blue, from the walls to the staircase, even the floor waiting for him at the bottom of the steps. Glancing behind him, he saw a solid blue wall a few steps above, the void he'd just been floating through a second ago nowhere to be seen.

Yuugi stood for a moment, trying to mentally shake himself awake, but when he stayed adamantly in this hellish dreamscape, he sighed in defeat, cautiously descending.

When he reached the bottom stair, he leaned out to peek past the walls. A long hallway stretched out to the left and right of him, and Yuugi could see where it ended in both directions. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all still monotonously blue. Yuugi hesitated, worrying his bottom lip, before he stepped off the last stair and turned to the right, randomly deciding and hoping it wouldn't lead him wrong.

Yuugi's eyebrows raised in surprise. Along the wall hung more paintings, ones he hadn't seen in the gallery above.

On either side of the staircase there were two huge landscape paintings. They were identical, from size to contents, huge rocks suspended in some sort of lava. The only difference was the colour of the lava. To the right, the lava was red, and to the left, blue. There were no plaques to tell Yuugi the names of these pieces.

Continuing down the hall, Yuugi barely glanced at the other paintings. Was this just another part of the exhibit, maybe? Perhaps this was some kind of weird promotion, isolating someone and having them walk through this weird basement after terrifying them half to death. Yuugi hoped it was, even if that was a super special kind of fucked up.

Coming to the end of the hallway, Yuugi found a door, standing out as a brighter blue than the walls. He reached out a hand, trying to turn the knob only to find it locked. With a huff, more annoyed than scared at this point, he decided he might as well try the other end of the hall.

As he walked back, he tried to ignore the fact that the staircase he'd come from had disappeared. This was a dream, weird things like that happened.

As he passed the blue landscape painting, he had to pause. Along the walls, in the same scribbling as the words that had told him to come below in the gallery, was the word “COME”. Over and over, spaced sporadically, in bright blue paint. Swallowing down air, Yuugi pushed forward, watching as the writing became more hurried and desperate. Come, come, come _come cOme COMe C O M E_.

Another blue door stood at the end of this hallway, but it was blocked by a simple, spindly wooden table, upon which was a plain blue vase. Yuugi took a few hesitant steps forward.

In the vase was a white rose. It seems to be a young bloom, only a few petals reaching out towards him. He furrowed his brow, wondering what a rose was doing placed so randomly in a place like this.

That's when he noticed the plaque nailed to the wall beside the door, words etched into it holding an eerie weight to them.

_As the rose wilts, so too will you rot away._

Yuugi swallowed nervously. He tried to push the table out of the way, but it wouldn't budge. He read the plaque again. Was he supposed to... take the rose? That seemed to be the only thing he could do...

With a shaky breath, he reached out, gently taking the flower by the stem and pulling it from the vase.

As soon as his fingers touched the stem, colour suddenly flooded into the petals, a dark, rich purple staining the rose like watercolour on paper. A small jolt raced from the tips of Yuugi's fingers and throughout the rest of his body, causing chills to raise on his arms.

The feeling subsided instantly, and Yuugi was left with his purple rose held tightly in his fingers.

He looked down at the flower, surprised to find he was unwilling to let it go now. A bit nervous he would hurt it, he tucked it delicately into a side pocket of his bag.

He turned back to the door, finding it was now easy to move the table with the now empty vase aside. Pushing open the door, he found himself in a room. It was empty, save for a large painting of a woman. Her eyes were closed, and her grey hair fell around her, thin and smooth. On the floor below her, something shimmered in the dim light. A blue key.

“Maybe that's for the door at the other end of the hall...?” Yuugi muttered, his own voice echoing around him. He trotted forward, bending down and taking the key in his hand.

A sinister hiss sliced through the room, causing Yuugi to stop dead. He held the key in a death grip as he slowly lifted his eyes to look up at the woman in the painting.

Her eyes had snapped open. They lacked an iris, and her pupils had become slits. Her mouth was wide in a malicious grin, and Yuugi scrambled backwards, his heart in his throat as he watched her hair start to extend, leaving the frame of her picture and snaking its way out towards him.

With a howl of fear, Yuugi bolted from the room, slamming the door behind him, keeping his hands on it in an attempt to keep that thing inside.

When he was sure he couldn't hear it following him, he gasped. He didn't realise he'd been holding his breath, and his lungs ached. How often would things like this happen in this nightmare of his, and how much longer until he just woke up?

Turning back to walk to the other end of the hallway, Yuugi felt another stab of fear. The several writings of “come” on the walls had disappeared. Instead, in varying sizes, all looking like someone had slashed at the walls with a red paintbrush in rage, was the word “THIEF”.

THIEF, THIEF, THIEF, THIEF, _THIEF_.

Yuugi hesitated for only a heartbeat before he took off, pounding down the hallway. He dodged when with a dull thud another accusation was slammed on the floor in front of him. _THIEF_.

He kept the key clutched to his chest, stopping and panting when he reached the red landscape painting. The writing had stopped, though he could still the the red words glaring at him from down the hallway. Turning his back to them and checking to make sure his rose was okay, he strode down to the other door. Finding the assumption that the blue key would work was right, he pushed the door open.

Yuugi had to blink a few times. The room he'd entered was bright green, a stark contrast to the darker blue his eyes had grown accustomed to, the brightness almost painful.

He closed the door behind him, glancing around. This was a simple, square green room. Along one wall were varied paintings of insects, from a spider to an ant. The opposite wall had four paintings depicting the metamorphosis of a butterfly. Between the middle two paintings was a door, an even brighter green than that of the walls.

There was another door on the wall opposite of where Yuugi had entered. Yuugi crossed the room in a few strides, trying this door first, only to groan when he found it locked.

He made his way to the other door. This one was open, but only a few steps from the doorway was a huge hole spanning the width of the hallway. It was too wide for Yuugi to attempt to make the jump across, but on the other side, he could see one of the creepy headless mannequins he'd seen in the gallery. At her feet was a green key.

He needed to get that key, but he had no way to get across the hole. He wandered back into the first room, trying to find something that could help him.

“Hey!”

A little voice echoed around him. Yuugi stopped. Had he spoken without realising it? Glancing around, he couldn't see anyone else in the room, just the paintings on the wall.

“Down here!”

Yuugi glanced down to the floor. At first, he couldn't see anything, and was quickly beginning to think he had finally lost it, when he saw the slightest bit of movement.

“Hi there!” Yuugi thought a small speck on the floor was speaking to him, but then he made out the little legs and antennae. “I'm an ant!”

“Oh! Um... h-hello.” Yuugi said, feeling strange about talking to a bug. This dream was already strange enough. “I'm Yuugi.”

“Nice to meet you, Yuugi!” The ant's voice was tiny and high pitched, but Yuugi was surprised to hear just how loud the little bug could talk. “Do you like paintings?”

Yuugi hesitated. If he had to be honest, he'd probably burn every one of the paintings around him at the next chance he got, after what he's been through. However, that didn't seem like the best way to take the conversation.

“Yeah, paintings are great.” Yuugi replied.

“I love paintings!” The ant chirped, suddenly turning and scuttling over to the paintings of the insects. Yuugi followed him, pausing when the little insect stopped beneath the painting of an ant. “This is a painting of me! It's the best!” Yuugi watched as the ant's antennae drooped. “But it's too high up. I can never see it very well.”

Yuugi felt a little bit of pity stir in his heart. The ant just wanted a good look at his painting. So, Yuugi stepped forward, tugging at the frame of the picture and lifting. It was a few feet taller than him, and definitely took an effort to get off the wall, but he managed to bring it down, placing it on the floor just before the ant.

“Is this better?” Yuugi asked, breathing heavily from the work.

“Yeah!” The ant cheered, his little antennae wriggling in delight. “Wow, it really is so cool!”

Yuugi smiled, looking up to the painting. The ant in the piece was done in great detail, and Yuugi had to admit, it was a pretty incredible painting.

As he studied it, a sudden idea crossed his mind.

“Do you think I could borrow this?” Yuugi asked, pointing to the painting.

“Sure!” The ant responded. “What for?”

“I just want to try something.” Yuugi said, leaning the painting and dragging it back towards the still-open door on the other side of the room.

The ant stayed behind to admire the other paintings. Yuugi was silently grateful, he didn't want the ant to see what he was going to do next.

As Yuugi had thought, the painting was easily long enough to cover the hole on the floor of the hallway. He put a hand to the face of the painting, worry pricking at his mind when he found it was just thin canvas. He was small, but he fretted over if it could support his weight.

Deciding it was better to try, he quickly ran across the top of the painting, clearing the hole. A ripping sound filled the room, and he turned, his stomach dropping when he saw a small tear had formed in the middle of the painting. Red paint had splattered around the tear like blood, and the ant in the painting looked as if it had been crush. Guilt rushed in a flush of colour to his face, but he ignored it. He'd find something to tell the ant, and it looked as if the canvas could survive once he crossed back over.

Yuugi crossed over to the mannequin. It was even more unsettling up close, and when it was alone. It was made of what seemed to be black marble, the red dress wrapped around it simple and ruffled. Yuugi swallowed back the anxiety rising in his chest, leaning down to pick up the green key without taking his eyes from the mannequin.

As soon as he held the key in his palm, Yuugi took a step back. The mannequin took a step forward in stride.

The panic that rose in his throat choked out his scream. He tripped on his own fear, running to make it back to the ant painting bridge. He could hear the stone heels of the mannequin clicking behind him, almost feel its cold hands as they reached out for him.

He made it to the painting, almost bouncing over it and falling to the floor on the other side. Another rip scratched through the air, and Yuugi watched in a whirl of colour and sound as the mannequin attempted to follow him, only for the canvas to give, ripping all the way open and sending it down into the hole. For a moment, a note of silence hung in the air, only to be broken by a terrible, shattering crash.

Yuugi sat on the floor panting, collecting his thoughts. He was surprised at how quickly he managed to pull himself together. It couldn't be a good sign, perhaps he was growing too used to this strange place.

Making his way back into the main room, he closed the door to the hallway behind him. The ant was looking at the paintings of the butterfly's metamorphosis.

“Hi!” The ant said. “Where's my painting?”

Yuugi bit at the loose skin of his bottom lip, guilt once again washing over him. “I, uh...” he paused, then gave the ant a smile. “I put it somewhere where lots of people could see just how cool it is.”

“Oh! Awesome!” The ant wiggled his body happily.

“Well, I have to be going now.” Yuugi said, making his way to the other door and unlocking it. “It was nice to meet you. Enjoy the paintings.”

“Likewise, Yuugi! Good luck!”

With that, Yuugi pushed the door open, closing it behind him quickly.

The room he found himself in this time was yellow. It was much like the first blue hallway, stretching out to his left and right, with two yellow doors on both ends.

Chilled by the sight of several dolls strung up from the ceiling by their feet to his right, Yuugi elected to try the left first.

On this side of the hallway, there was only one painting. Yuugi had to pause to look at it, wondering how it could even be considered a painting. It was blank, the white paint tinted the lightest shade of yellow from the walls around it. Yuugi frowned, about the look away, when he saw something right in the middle of the painting. The slightest bit of discolouration. Leaning forward, Yuugi saw what appeared to be a red number nine painted right in the middle of the picture.

More confused than ever, he left the painting.

He walked further down the hallway, coming to the door. Written above the top of the door frame in bold, bright yellow lettering was “The Liars' Room”. Yuugi didn't like the sound of that, but he'd found it was just best to go with whatever this crazy dream wanted him to do by now.

So, he pushed the door open just a bit, glancing inside. Along the opposite wall were six paintings of black figures, all dressed in different coloured outfits. Between the middle two paintings was another door.

Yuugi walked to the door first, surprised when he found he could open it. Looking inside, he found a small room with a white marble statue of a woman situated in the middle. Around her were several tiles. When Yuugi stepped on one, he felt it was loose. Flipping it over, he saw it was marked with an X.

Putting the tile back, he stepped back out into the room with the paintings. He walked to the end, where a black silhouette clocked in green stood, in a pose as if they were dancing. Below her, words were painted.

_Stand in front of the statue, go west 3 steps, then north 2 steps. That's the answer!_

Yuugi tilted his head. Was this... a puzzle? The Liar's Room... So these paintings were all liars. Yuugi turned to the next painting, a figured painted in a simple brown frock.

_Stand in front of the statue, the text read. Go east 4 steps, then north 2 steps. That's the answer!_

Yuugi thought he understood. These paintings were hints to where something he needed was. Perhaps a key to somewhere? He'd found keys were a theme in this bizarre dreamworld. So, he made his way down the line, reading the text of each painting carefully.

_The one in white speaks the truth!_ proclaimed the figure in yellow.

_The only truth speaker wears green!_ stated the figure in blue.

_Stand in front of the statue, go east 2 steps, then go south 2 steps. That's the answer!_ said the figure in white.

_I agree with the one in yellow!_ the one in red concluded.

Yuugi took a step back. This was definitely a puzzle, a riddle he had to solve. Having been a fan of these sorts of games since he was young, Yuugi was quite proud at his ability to solve problems like this. So, he put his hand on his chin, his brow furrowing as he thought.

First, these figures spoke lies. He first thought of the three who gave instructions. They must be telling him the way to go in the room with the loose tiles. Three sets of instructions, three probable outcomes, only one right answer. He studied the figures in green, brown, and white. Then, he turned to the other paintings, the ones who only sang the praises of the paintings who gave directions.

The one in red agrees with the one in yellow, and the one in yellow says the one in white speaks the truth. This was too obvious, of course. Yellow was lying, and Red was agreeing with his lie. The one in blue proclaimed the only truth speaker wore green, and this must also be a lie.

The only one who was not spoken of by another painting was the figure in brown.

Yuugi stood before this figure. Their featureless face stared back at him. One of these paintings told him the truth, and Yuugi had a hunch that this painting was it.

So, he walked back into the room with the loose tiles. Standing before the statue, Yuugi turned to the right, towards east, and took four steps. Then he turned left, taking two steps north. He bent down, turning this tile over. A blue number four was painted on the back.

A sudden loud crashing came from the Liar's Room. Yuugi whipped around, listening to the sound of a struggle and a single ripping noise. Yuugi rushed back into the room, his eyes growing wide at what he saw.

Red paint splattered the walls and floors. Five of the figures in the paintings now held knifes, everything from the blades to their canvases covered in red. Beneath them, the writing from before had been replaced. Under every painting was now written the same word.

_LIAR!_

The brown painting had been ripped apart, the figure within unrecognizable. Red paint dripped down the canvas, splashing onto the floor in a puddle. There was no text beneath the frame.

Yuugi left the Liar's Room, closing the door firmly behind him.

He now had two numbers. Nine and four. Were they important for helping him move on?

He had nowhere to go now but down to the other end of the hall. He tried to advert his eyes from the dolls dangling around him, until he heard one fall to the ground behind him. He looked back, seeing something green stitched into the doll's red shirt. Taking a step closer, he was it was the number eighteen. The numbers were definitely important.

Nine, four, and eighteen. But what did they mean?

He made his way over to the door, where he got his answer.

There were works carved into the wood of the door.

_X x X + X = ?_

_What's the answer?_

Each of the X's was a different colour. The first was green, the second red, and the third blue. Yuugi remembered each of the numbers he'd found had each been a different colour.

Yuugi groaned. Math was something he definitely wasn't confident with.

He fitted in the numbers he'd found with the equation. Eighteen times nine plus four. Unlatching his bag, he dug around, pulling out a small notepad he carried around with him. He had to search, but he managed to find the pen that had settled at the bottom of his bag.

He set out to scribbling down the numbers, trying to remember how multiplication worked. It took him a few tries, but he finally managed to get the math right, at least he hoped.

“Eighteen times nine plus four,” he said out loud, clutching the notepad tightly, hoping he was right, “Is one hundred and sixty-six.”

A loud click echoed through the hallway, and the door crept open slightly. Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief, shoving his notepad and pen back into his bag, checking on his rose, then walked through the door.

This area was red. It had the most art in it that he'd seen yet. Two large statues stood on both sides of the room, both looking like women in the middle of melting. One was red, the other was blue. There were also paintings, including one that was black with a single line of green painted across it. Every now and then, the line would jump up, then go flat. Yuugi ignored the sound of a heartbeat that came with it.

There was another door across the room, but it was locked, of course. Yuugi scanned the room, wondering if he'd have to solve another riddle, when he spotted a red key sitting just a ways away.

He trotted over to it, going to pick it up, when he saw the painting above it.

_The Lady in Red_ the plaque read.

Yuugi swallowed. It was the same painting of the woman with red eyes from the gallery. She sat against her dark backdrop, her blood red eyes piercing through Yuugi like a blade, her smile slight and thin-lipped. Those same chills started to creep up the back of Yuugi's neck, so he quickly made to pick up the key and leave this unnerving woman behind.

As he straightened back up, Yuugi felt something slash across his cheek.

Pain seared through Yuugi's face. He could feel the trickle of blood from the scratch in his skin already, and tears burned hotly behind his eyes. Scrambling backwards, he watched as a single purple petal was left behind on the floor, only to be crushed when the Lady in Red slammed to the ground, her upper body protruding from her frame. Her red eyes glowed wildly, her mouth split into a wicked grin. With a hiss of breath, she reached out her hand, her nails reached to deal another blow.

Yuugi shrieked, bolting away. He dashed to the other side of the melting red woman statue, hearing the Lady in Red laugh shrilly. Glancing behind, he could see her dragging herself behind her like some kind of grotesque monster. He made for the locked door, struggling to get the key in the hole for a moment with his trembling hands, but he finally managed, violently turning the knob and slipping into the next room, slamming the door behind him.

He could hear the monster slam herself against door, a high pitched cry of rage cutting through the air as she slammed her hands against the door. Yuugi put all of his weight on the door, panting heavily. He stood there, refusing to move for what felt like an eternity, until the Lady in Red had been quiet for several minutes. She must have given up her chase. Placing his ear to the door, Yuugi could hear her crawling around, but she didn't seem hellbent on killing him now.

He breathed, turned to the room he'd entered. All around him were tall bookshelves, placed in four even rows. On the opposite wall in the path between them was another door. He walked over, but wasn't even remotely surprised to find it locked. With a sigh, he set to looking through the bookshelves. The key must be somewhere in the books.

He found several different books, from a book of art galleries from around the world, to a book about Pegasus, the artist of all this crazy living art around him. Maybe Yuugi had read this book before, and it had caused this crazy dream of his.

Between two books, he found a piece of paper. It seemed to explain the Lady in Red, and how she was unable to open doors. Well, that was some good news, at least.

Yuugi groaned as he closed yet another art book, setting it back in the shelf, about ready to just give up and lay down right there, when he noticed the spine of one book that stood out from the rest. Pulling it up, he saw that this book didn't even have a proper spine. It was composed of several pieces of paper stapled together. The cover was drawn in crayon, and showed a stylized drawing of a girl with bright blue eyes and hair. She was smiling, and in her fingerless hand, she held what looked to be a gold coin.

_Moving storybook_ , read the childlike words above her. _Written/Drawn by XXXX_. The named had been smudged out.

Beneath the girl, in bright pink, was the title.

_Carrie Careless and the Galette des Rois_

“'Moving storybook'...?” Yuugi muttered, flipping to the first page.

Immediately, Yuugi understood. As he turned the pages, the crayon drawings started moving, little noises joining in with them.

A red curtain slowly parted, revealing four children gathered around a cake.

“Happy birthday, Carrie!” the text read, joined in by small squeaks from three of the children.

The fourth girl, the one from the cover, Carrie, jumped happily. “Thanks, guys!”

The other girl spoke up, her bright pink hair bouncing. “For your birthday, we baked a special cake! A galette des rois!”

“What's that?” Carrie asked.

“There's a coin baked into the cake! If you get the piece of cake with the coin it, you'll be a happy person!” The pink-haired girl replied.

“Cool! Let's eat!” Carrie jumped again in happiness.

“All right!” The pink-haired girl reached out of sight, pulling out a long knife. “Let me just cut the cake!”

The curtain closed, and when it opened again, the plate the cake had been on was empty, eating noises floating around the children’s heads.

“Oh!” exclaimed Carrie.

“What's wrong, Carrie?” The pink-haired girl asked.

“I think I just... swallowed something hard!”

The other children let out little squeaks of laughter.

“That must have been the coin!” one of the other children said.

“Oh Carrie!” The pink-haired girl laughed. “You're so careless! Well, I guess I better clean this up.” She reached out and picked up the plate with the knife she'd used to cut the cake.

The scene changed, and the pink-haired girl walked down a hallway, where she met with a woman standing by what looked to be a red door.

“Hi, Mom!” the girl said.

“Hello, dear,” the mother responded, her crudely drawn face looking worried. “Have you seen the key to the study?”

“The key? It's usually on the table.”

The mother moved, revealing a brown table. A small speck of yellow was on top of it. A coin.

“Huh?” The pink-haired girl moved towards the table.

“Oh, what shall I do?” The mother said, moving out of sight.

“That's... the coin...” The pink-hair girl said. “The coin that was supposed to be in the cake... Could it be... the key...?”

Yuugi put two and two together. It seemed the pink-haired girl had as well.

“What should I...?” The girl's arm tilted, causing the knife to slide from the plate and clatter onto the floor. She jumped, turning to look at the knife.

The scene changed again, showing the pink-haired girl walking down the hallway, knife in hand.

“Looks like I was just as careless as Carrie!”

The curtain closed. Yuugi felt his stomach clench painfully at a ripping sound and a small squeak. The pink-haired girl poked her head and arm out from behind the curtain, a red key clasped in her hand, her face now dotted with red.

“I've got the key!” she exclaimed. “I'll open the door now!”

Yuugi dropped the book as a loud clicking noise echoed around him, and the locked door creaked open. Looking back to where he'd dropped the book, it was gone.

Yuugi stood for a moment, trying to process what he'd just seen. Chills ran up and down his spine, and he made his way over to the door, still feeling the oiliness of the crayon drawings on his fingers.

He looked out to find himself in another hallway. Before him stood a table against the opposite wall, another vase like the one he'd found his rose in before placed on top of it.

His rose. He took the flower from the pocket of his bag. Before, when the Lady in Red had struck him, a petal had fallen from it. The scratch on his cheek still stung, and the rose looked darker, the petals looking slightly withered. He felt himself grow worried. The rose had looked fine until the Lady in Red had attacked him.

He looked back to the vase to find a painting above it. It was a painting of the same vase as the table, only this one seemed to have a glowing aura about it. A plaque beneath it read Eternal Blessing.

Taking a step forward, Yuugi twirled the stem of his rose between his fingers. He picked up the vase. It was heavy, and he could feel water sloshing around inside. Taking a stab in the dark, he placed the rose in the vase.

After a moment, a light drifted up the stem of the rose, wrapping itself around the petals. The flower suddenly perked back up, even grew more petals, and Yuugi could feel himself suddenly gain more energy. The stinging on his cheek subsided, and when he lifted his fingers to feel, he found his skin as smooth as if the scratch had never been there.

So, the rose was connected to him. Plucking the rose from the vase, he tested something, using his fingers to pull on of the petals from the flower. Pain suddenly sliced through his abdomen, and when he lifted his shirt, he saw a large bruise forming on his side. Placing the rose back in the vase, the same glow regrew the petal he'd pulled out, and the bruise vanished before his eyes.

_As the rose wilts, so too will you rot away._

Got it. If the flower dies, Yuugi dies. Protect the flower.

So, what now? Glancing back and forth, he saw the hallway had two doors at both ends. Glancing at the floor to his left, he noticed something laying on the floor. Walking forward, he found it was a red rose petal.

More petals were scattered out before him, and he followed their path through the door. This door lead to another room. Another vase on a table stood beside the door, but further inspection showed this vase was empty. Beside the vase was a plaque, and it read the same warning as Yuugi had been given, the warning to protect your rose.

More red petals were scattered around this room. Across the way there was another door, which was, of course, locked.

Yuugi looked around. Beside the door was a bit of off-coloured wall. A small golden plaque stood on it's own, reading _The Lady in Purple_.

There were more of those horrible paintings? Yuugi's favourite colour didn't deserve this kind of treatment.

He searched around, but he couldn't find a key to the locked door. So, he turned back to the hallway, making his way to the door on the opposite end.

Yuugi opened this door, not at all expecting what he found on the other side.

Laying on the floor in the middle of the hallway on the other side was a person. Yuugi hesitated, his eyes wide. However, the person made no move towards him. He just laid there.

He took a few cautious steps forward, and Yuugi realised who this person was. This was the stranger who'd been looking at the Hanged Man painting back in the gallery. Yuugi suddenly rushed forward, dropping down to kneel beside him.

The stranger looked a mess. His hair was ruffled, his clothes roughed up. His sun-kissed skin was covered in cuts and bruises, and his breathing was shallow and uneven. Blood trickled from his lips.

“Hello?” Yuugi said softly, placing a hand gently on the man's shoulder. The stranger moaned in pain, moving slightly. Yuugi caught sight of something grasped in his hand.

Reaching over, Yuugi took the red key from his hand. The stranger made no arguments, just went quiet once again, his eyes screwed shut in agony.

Yuugi wondered if this was the key to the door back in the other room. Those red rose petals... They must belong to the rose of this man. And, as Yuugi had found, if his rose had lost that many petals, that wasn't good. Yuugi had to find his rose and get it in the rejuvenating water.

He dashed back through the hallway and into the room with the locked door. He quickly unlocked it, charging into the room, only to hault, trying not to breath.

The Lady in Purple looked similar to her red counterpart, on her clothes were a dark violet. Her purple eyes were focused on the red rose clasped in her hand. Yuugi watched as she ran one finger down one petal, gripping it momentarily before she plucked it from the rose. Yuugi flinched, knowing that was another bruise on the stranger's body.

That's when the Lady in Purple noticed him. Her eyes, the same shade of purple as Yuugi's, flicked up, and her face suddenly split into that wicked grin the Lady in Red had before. She threw the rose aside, her nails digging into the floor as she started pulling herself towards Yuugi.

Yuugi wanted to slam the door shut, block her from him, but he needed to get that rose. He dove to the side, trying to keep one eye on the painting while he groped for the rose on the floor. The Lady swiped at him, but Yuugi stayed just out of her reach, managing to grab the mangled rose. He dodged back around her, making a break for the door. He could feel her at his heels, but he managed to get to the door, slamming it shut behind him. He panted, backing away and clutching the stranger's rose close to his chest as the Lady in Purple screamed and slammed against the door.

Pulling himself together, Yuugi ran back to the hallway, quickly placing the withered rose in the vase. He watched, worried at first that it wasn't going to work, but breathed a sigh of relief when the light snaked its way up the stem, the rose perking up and regaining its petals. It was a dark, elegant red.

Yuugi took the rose, returning to the hallway where the stranger lay. He was still on the floor, but he stirred as Yuugi approached him. Yuugi was glad to see the cuts and bruises had started to disappear.

Yuugi knelt down as the stranger's eyes fluttered open. He pushed himself up, running a hand over his face.

“What's this...?” The stranger muttered. His voice was soft and deep, and Yuugi felt his heart skip. “The pain's gone...”

The stranger glanced up, Yuugi starting a bit when their eyes met. Yuugi thought he'd jumped right out of his skin when the stranger let out a shriek.

“Wh-What do you want?!” The man demanded, crawling back away from Yuugi. “I-I don't have anything left for you to take!”

Yuugi was so shocked that he couldn't respond. When he didn't get an answer, the stranger looked closer at him. “Wait... you're not...” Realization dawned on his face, and he scrambled back up to look at Yuugi's face. “Wait, you're someone from the gallery, aren't you?! You're not a statue or a painting!”

Yuugi was dumbstruck for a moment, but then he nodded.

“I knew it!” The stranger cheered. “Finally, another person! I've been lost in this hellish place for hours, and then that Lady attacked me and...” It was then he noticed the rose in Yuugi's hand. “Is that my rose?”

Yuugi nodded again, too embarrassed to speak. Once again, he found himself flushing in this stranger's presence, at his beauty. His heart pittered as the stranger's rusty red eyes flicked from Yuugi's face to his hand, and he couldn't help but blush when their skin brushed as the man took his rose.

“And you revived it? Thank you so much,” The stranger ran his fingers over the petals. “I find myself covered in cuts and bruises when this rose loses its petals. And this strange place... do you have any idea how we wound up here?”

Yuugi shook his head.

“Hm...” The stranger mumbled in response, sticking the rose into a small hole in his jacket. “So you don't know either... Well, we need to find a way out of here.” He stood, dusting himself off, then holding his hand out to Yuugi, flashing him a brilliant smile. “We should stick together! I'm sure we'll fare better as a team than alone. Besides,” he added as he pulled Yuugi to his feet, leaning forward. “I couldn't leave someone so cute on their own.”

Yuugi swallowed, his face only growing warmer. He was sure his skin was as red as the stranger's rose. The man just let out a chuckle.

“My name is Atem. What's yours?”

Yuugi looked up at Atem's face. Despite his teasing, his eyes shone with a kind glow. Yuugi gave him a small smile.

“Yuugi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please let me know what you think, i adore getting feedback!! you can also find me at 0megalucario.tumblr.com!


	3. Decent into Panic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this too ten billion years. sorry about that, i tend to be kind of slow, especially when it comes to writing. T v T
> 
> i did have a lot of fun writing this chapter, though, so i hope you manage to enjoy it!! 
> 
> a bit of a warning!! this chapter does contain a panic attack, so please read with caution if that can potentially trigger anyone or make anyone uncomfortable, i just wanted to try and keep the situation a bit realistic.
> 
> also!! if you've played the game and know things, don't spoil anything for others!!!

Atem was fascinating. The air he gave off was mysterious. His deep voice was entrancing as he spoke to Yuugi while they waited for the rest of his strength to return. Yuugi lost himself in the way he moved his hands, the way his russet-coloured eyes would flash when he chuckled deep in his chest. Yuugi's heart would flutter when their shoulders would bump, or when Atem's fingers would accidentally ghost over the top of Yuugi's hand. Yuugi missed an entire story Atem told when he distracted himself with counting the freckles that dusted his bronzed nose and cheeks.

This was a dream... right?

Everything pointed to the world around Yuugi to be some sort of illusion built in the back of his mind, from the crazy monsters that chased him to the never-ending maze of puzzles. If this was a dream, did that mean Atem wasn't real, as well? He certainly seemed like one of the men Yuugi's psyche would conjure up on a particularly lonely night. Beautiful, kind, mysterious...

However, Atem's mysterious air was immediately lifted when he stood, commenting that he felt fit enough to carry on, and made to walk down the hallway, only to be stopped when the painting of an absurd face, tongue lolling about, spat out of its frame just in front of Atem on the floor. A visible jolt of panic raced through Atem's body, sending him stumbling backwards to land gracelessly on his ass with a shriek of alarm.

Yuugi stared, wide-eyed, as Atem panted on the floor. Atem's eyes flashed back to Yuugi, who was extending a hand to help him up, but he let out a quivering laugh, coughing into his hand and lifting himself up, dusting off his pants.

"B-Best to look out for strange things like that!” Atem proclaimed, trying to act as if he hadn't made such a fool out of himself. Yuugi hid a laugh behind his hand. While his enigmatic aura might have been shattered, Atem stilled proved to be extremely cute.

This dream was very unusual indeed. Normally, when an attractive man was present in Yuugi's unconscious mind, there was hardly any banter before Yuugi found himself being jolted awake, flushed and grinding against a pillow. This dream seemed to be taking a different direction, as Atem wasn't scooping Yuugi into his arms to ravish him, much to Yuugi's disappointment. Instead, Atem brushed his bangs from his face, letting out an embarrassed laugh as he dodged around the painting's spit and made for the door at the other end of the hallway.

Yuugi's mouth slanted in confusion as he followed behind Atem. As much as he wanted to believe this was just a crazy nightmare, so many things pointed towards the opposite, like the pain he'd felt when the Lady had scratched his cheek, or all the opportunities he'd come across to be so scared, he'd be jolted awake in fear. As he crossed into the next room with Atem, Yuugi felt his stomach drop at the thought that the things happening to him could possibly be very real.

Yuugi was snapped out of his own thoughts when he nearly collided with Atem's back.

They had entered a room that was empty, save for a single headless mannequin that stood in front of the only other door. Yuugi stared warily, poised to run back into the hallway, but the mannequin remained still.

The two of them approached the mannequin slowly, and when it continued to remain static, Yuugi reached out a hand, pushing against it. It wouldn't budge.

Atem huffed, rolling up the sleeves of his jacket. “I can handle this,” He said, flashing Yuugi a smile. “Stand back a bit.”

Yuugi took a step away, watching as Atem braced himself against the mannequin. He took a deep breath, then strained, shoving as hard as he could against the heavy stone model. With a grunt, the figure finally gave way, scooting slowly along the hard floor with an unpleasant scraping sound. Yuugi tried to hide the fact that he was staring at Atem's muscles rippling beneath the skin of his forearm.

Once the mannequin was out of the way of the door, Atem straightened himself up, tugging his sleeves back down. He gave a grand bow, gesturing towards the door with a grin.

"After you,” he chimed.

Yuugi laughed nervously, walking forward and pulling the door open.

Atem's suave gesture was unfortunately wasted.

Yuugi had to pause as he crossed the threshold into the next room. A long hallway stretched out ahead, straight and narrow. The walls were grey, a jarring change compared to the deep red from the rooms behind them. Along one wall were four paintings of a stark white man, his expression shifting in each painting, going from expressionless, to a look that felt slightly malicious. The third painting sent a chill down Yuugi's spine, as the man's eyes seemed to be leaking blood. Yuugi quickly moved on to look at the next painting, which had the same expression as the first.

Despite the unnerving air these paintings gave off, they weren't the strangest thing in this hallway. Lined up along the other wall was a long row of white decapitated mannequin heads, stretching down the entire length of the corridor. Their static gazes were set to the left, towards the door on the opposite end. The only bit of colour on them were their bright red lips.

Yuugi was about to step forward, seeing no other option than to advance, when he felt something tug on the back of his shirt. He glanced around. Behind him, Atem was staring at the mannequin heads with wide eyes, his mouth thinned in anxiety.

"Um...” Yuugi stuttered. “Atem...?”

Atem blinked, suddenly releasing Yuugi's shirt and holding his hands up apologetically.

"Sorry!” he laughed nervously, rubbing his hands together in embarrassment. “Sorry. Uh, those... those heads just sort of... freaked me out a bit.” He gave Yuugi a smile, though Yuugi could still see his eyes glancing warily to the head. “Let's continue on.”

Yuugi hesitated for a moment, then nodded, starting a steady pace down the hall. It didn't take very long to reach the other end, but Yuugi couldn't help but speed up a little when he thought he saw the fourth painting's eyes swivel to watch them pass.

Yuugi opened the door and rushed through. He hoped that eventually he'd find some sort of safe haven in this hellish labyrinth, but it seemed that this wasn't it.

All around were several walls, all adorned in paintings of the Lady in Red. Multi-coloured companions joined her, all watching them with sharp, still eyes. Purple, blue, yellow, green... More of the headless black mannequins were place periodically around the area. Yuugi hesitated to move, and he could hear Atem's shallow breathing just behind him. After what seemed like a millennium, Yuugi allowed himself to breath. At the time, none of these creatures seemed interested in pursuing them.

"I don't think my heart can handle this place much longer.” Atem's voice was hoarse, and he clutched at the front of his shirt.

"We'll get out of here soon.” Yuugi replied, trying his best to give Atem an encouraging smile. He couldn't help feel he was trying to convince himself as much as he was his companion.

The two set off to cautiously wander about the room. Turning around more corners only offered more paintings and mannequins, but they all remained immobile. It didn't stop them from hurrying past like the devil was at their heels when there were forced to venture to close to one of them.

They eventually found a door, but Atem could only groan when he found it was locked.

"These damn doors!” Atem said, bumping the side of his fist against the door's surface in irritation. “It's getting old that they're constantly locked like this!” His mouth tilted into a thoughtful frown. “Do you think I could bash it open?”

Yuugi's eyebrows furrowed. “Not to say you couldn't, but I don't think it's a very good idea.” He replied, taking a few steps to glance around another corner. “There seems to be a pattern in this place, so a locked door means there's a key somewhere.” He looked back to see Atem still contemplating the door, as if he really was considering charging into it, only to let out a defeated sigh and follow Yuugi.

"Very well,” Atem conceded. “What do you suggest?”

Yuugi pointed over to another door across the way. “Might as well try every door we see.”

Atem gestured for Yuugi to lead the way. Yuugi trotted across to the door, relieved when the doorknob turned smoothly and the door swung open.

Owever, upon closer inspection, it seemed this room didn't offer them much. It was barren, save for a single mirror set up on the wall opposite the entryway.

Atem moved past Yuugi to peer into the mirror, rapping sharply on its surface with his knuckles and tugging along the edges. Yuugi came up behind him, catching a glimpse of himself in the reflection.

His clothes were rumpled, his hair disheveled, and his eyes seemed heavy with exhaustion, but other than that, he didn't seem much different from when he had looked himself over in his bathroom mirror earlier that day. Next to Atem, who looked as if he'd just stepped out of a fashion magazine, Yuugi felt much like a pauper next to a pampered prince.

A soft noise behind them distracted Yuugi from his ogling of Atem. Turning back, spotted one of the mannequin heads from earlier settled into the corner, it's eyes glancing towards the door, almost as if it were avoiding eye contact. Had that been there before?

"Looks like there isn't anything out of the ordinary,” Atem said, catching Yuugi's attention once again. Yuugi eyebrows knitted together for a moment before he turned back to watch Atem brush back his bangs with a hand as he examined his reflection. “I guess we should move on.”

Yuugi turned to give his reflection one last look, only to have his heart stop. Hovering behind Atem's shoulder was the mannequin head, it's static pupils trained on Atem's head.

Atem let out a loud, startled grunt. Both he and Yuugi turned to find the head sitting a few feet away, facing towards them and now looking over at the wall, as if it hadn't been lurking just behind them just a few heartbeats before.

Atem stared at the head in horror, then his expression shifted, turning to a grimace of aggravation.

"Why, you...!” Atem made for the head, pulling back one of his legs, making to kick it against the wall.

A strange feeling punched Yuugi in the gut. A bad, ominous feeling that made him reach out and grab the back of Atem's jacket, tugging him back and preventing him from lashing out. Atem rounded on Yuugi, anger and confusion flashing in his eyes.

"I'm sorry!” Yuugi squeak, immediately releasing Atem and holding his hands close to him. “I... I just... Y-You shouldn't d-do that...” He cast a quick glance to the head. “I... I just have a feeling... it's not a good idea...”

Atem stared at Yuugi for a moment, his chest heaving irritation still apparent on his face. He looked back to the head, blinking hard before his face relaxed, as well as the rest of his body. He ran a hand over his face, running it up to rustle his hair, only to have it fall perfectly back into place.

"You're right...” Atem said, taking a long, deep breath, and slowly letting it out. “You're right. I'm sorry, I... lost myself there for a moment.”

Yuugi stood by, letting Atem collect himself.

"Well,” Atem said, coughing a bit, obviously embarrassed of his outburst. “L-Let's move on.”

When the left the mirror room, Yuugi was surprised to find another wall had sprung up across from them with another door.

"We don't have to go through that door...” Atem muttered. “Do we?”

"We have to at least try,” Yuugi said, shooting him a sympathetic look. “I don't want to do it anymore than you do.”

Atem groaned, but followed along when Yuugi made towards the door. Opening it, Yuugi could feel Atem waiting for him to enter the room beyond, but something on the opposite wall immediately caught his attention, and made his heart jump into his throat.

A huge painting adorned the opposite wall, placed between two barren bookshelves. The painting was simple, with a deep scarlet background. Three figures were the focus, two taller males standing behind the shoulders of a shorter girl, all three of whom were achingly familiar to Yuugi.

"Yuugi...?” Atem asked, but Yuugi barely heard him. He took a few steps towards the painting, taking in the girl's auburn hair, her bright blue eyes, and her slight but kind smile. The taller boy's brown eyes seemed to spark with life even inside the frame, his mop of blond hair untamed. The final figure's dark eyes were deep and serious, but his expression was kind.

"My friends...” Yuugi murmured past the lump in his throat. For the first time since entering this hellish place, Yuugi thought of his friends, and anger at himself sent scalding tears to his eyes. In his own dire need of self preservation, he'd completely forgotten that his friends might also be wandering about this nightmare, lost and confused, and he'd been selfish enough to not even spare them a thought.

"Your friends?” Atem didn't seem to notice the tone of Yuugi's voice or the tears in his eyes as he came up beside him to inspect the painting. “This painting is of your friends?” His eyebrows furrowed. “But that doesn't make any sense. What would a painting of your friends be doing here?”

When Yuugi didn't answer, that was when Atem saw the look on his face. His eyes widened. “I-I'm sure your friends are fine!” Atem said, reaching out a hand only to have it hover awkwardly over Yuugi's shoulder. He withdrew it quickly and scratched the back of his head, clearing his throat. He tried to put on a more confident tone. “We'll find them! And we'll all get out of here just fine!”

Yuugi still didn't answer, only stared at the painting for a moment longer before looking away, using his hand to rub at his eyes and give Atem a small smile. “Yeah... sorry, I'm okay. It just... shocked me a little.”

"Understandably.” Atem nodded, turning to go back to the door. “It doesn't seem like there's anything of use in here.” He turned the door knob... but hadn't the door just been open...?

Yuugi watched as Atem struggled, twisting the knob back and forth. “What's wrong?” Yuugi asked.

"It's locked...” Atem said, turning back to Yuugi.

"What?” Yuugi crossed over and tried the knob himself. Sure enough, the door stuck fast. “But it was just open!”

A loud bang erupted from the other side of the door, causing both of them to jump back, instinctively clutching to one another. A loud cry sounded from outside, followed by a few more bangs. Yuugi was suddenly grateful that the door was locked.

More loud bangs and crashes echoed around them from outside the room. The backed to the center of the room, Yuugi wincing every time there was another sound of shattering glass. Atem clutched his arms tightly, which did not help Yuugi's already pounding heart.

With a loud cracking noise, a part of the wall suddenly caved in, one of the Lady paintings dragging herself into the room with a wild look. Yuugi stepped back, Atem stepping forward to shield him as the monster pulled herself towards them, her yellow eyes glinting with malice.

Yuugi clutched Atem's arm. _This is it._ he thought. _We're trapped. We're going to die._

Suddenly, Atem grabbed Yuugi's hand.

"Trust me, and don't let go of my hand!” Atem urged. Without giving Yuugi a chance to respond, Atem yanked him forward towards the Lady.

At first, Yuugi thought Atem had lost his mind. But then, Atem dodged nimbly around her, tugging Yuugi to avoid the swipe of her sharp nails, and ducked out of the hole she had made.

Outside the room was far worse. All around, Ladies dragged their way towards them, the black mannequins grasping out blindly as they searched for their targets. Atem held tightly to Yuugi's hand, is ruddy eyes scanning the oncoming hoard before he took off.

Atem proved himself to be very agile and sharp-witted. He dodged easily around the lumbering mannequins, easily making up for Yuugi's stumbling feet. Yuugi could feel his stamina quickly fading as Atem pulled him around many corners. Yuugi wasn't exactly a very athletic person, and his chest was starting to ache with strain, having to gasp in ever breathe.

Finally, Atem turned another corner to find the first door they had come across that had been locked. Two mannequins were bumbling their way towards them, but Atem managed to easily avoid them and bowl open the door with his shoulder, pulling Yuugi through and slamming the door behind him. Not caring what lay ahead, the two continued to run down the long hallway until Atem had to stop, bending over and putting his hands on his knees, sweat dripping down his face and his breath coming in wheezing gasps.

"O... Ok... Okay...” Atem panted, rubbing at the sweat on his chin with one hand. “I... I think we're... safe...”

Behind him, Yuugi was struggling to breath. The words Atem spoke didn't register as the world around him seemed to slow down and tilt. The grey walls blurred into a nauseating whirlwind, and Yuugi's head started to pound as a heavy weight settled in his chest. He lifted his hands, desperately clawing at his throat to try and open up his airways, but they only continued to restrict, stinging tears welling in his eyes as panic crushed his lungs. His knees buckled, and the edges of his vision slowly started to turn black. His heartbeat was fast and painful, he could hear it in his ears, feel it in his Adam's apple.

Yuugi could barely make out the deep sound of Atem's voice through the panicked cacophony wracking his body. He could just make out the feeling of someone grabbing his arm, and more colours mixing into his spinning vision, before exhaustion blinded him and he fell forward, shifting from feeling everything to feeling nothing at all.

 

* * *

 

 

Yuugi blinked. Once, twice, three times. How did he get here?

The last thing he remembered was Atem dragging him through the barrage of monsters.

A loud ticking reverberated off the walls around him in the empty room, the black walls decorated with blooms of colours, like crudely-drawn fireworks. The ticking only worsened the pounding ache in Yuugi's head.

Just a bit ahead of him was a red door. Yuugi stood where he was, still dazed and confused, only to jump when a suddenly pounding joined the insistent ticking. Yuugi turned to see another door behind him. The doorknob was jiggling violently, and another round of slams caused the wood to vibrate ominously. Yuugi took off towards the door on the opposite side, wrenching it open only to have it slam behind him once he entered the next room.

This room's walls were also black, but they looked as if a child had taken a red crayon and scribbled along the walls.

Yuugi didn't have long to take in the décor. Whatever was chasing him had caught up to him just behind the door. Yuugi backed away, glancing over his shoulder to see another door and rushing towards it. Cold dread gripped at him when it stuck fast, locked.

"No, no, please...!” He cried in desperation, twisting it so violently he thought he might dislocate his shoulders. The slams behind him grew louder, and he could feel panic creeping into his chest as he glanced behind him.

The moment he looked away from the door, he heard a click. Turning back to the door in front of him, he found it open, and pushed it without hesitation.

Regret immediately took hold of him. The room he had entered was pitch black, and he heard the door slam shut behind him. He stood rooted to the spot, the ticking still sending tremors through his body.

Suddenly, light flooded the room. Yuugi blinked at the sudden harshness, only to scramble backwards when his vision cleared.

Before him, one of the headless mannequins, a Red Lady, and a white mannequin slowly closed in on him. He fumbled for the doorknob, but it refused to turn. He tugged on it desperately, the ticking growing louder as the monsters grew closer.

Tick. Tick. Tick. _Tick._

Yuugi's eyes shot open, bolting upright and glancing around. There were no monsters in sight, and a red jacket slid off his body to rest on his lap. He breathed heavily, trying to assess his situation, his thoughts still muddled and confused.

"You're awake!” A voice came from behind him, and he turned to see Atem standing by a bookshelf. Closing the book in his hand and putting back on the shelf, Atem strode over and sat down beside Yuugi, giving him a warm smile. “Are you feeling better?”

Yuugi was quiet for a moment. Atem must have noticed how distraught he was, because his expression turned concerned. “You don't seem to be better,” Atem said.

"N-No, I'm okay!” Yuugi lied. “Just... had a bad dream.”

Atem's mouth tilted into a frown. “Oh... I'm sorry. I would have woken you if I had realised sooner.”

"It's all right.” Yuugi replied wit a shrug. “I'm pretty used to nightmares.”

Atem's brows knitted together in concern, and Yuugi regretted saying what he had.

"But, really, I'm okay now.” Yuugi said as he made to get up, but Atem put a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down.

"Oh no, you're not moving yet.” Atem chided. “You waited until my strength returned, so I'm going to do the same. We're staying put until some colour returns to your face.” Atem patted Yuugi's cheek with his hand. Yuugi was surprised this wasn't enough to send the colour rushing back to his skin, because he suddenly felt like his face was on fire.

Atem didn't seem to notice, however, as he continued to speak. “It's no wonder you fainted,” he said, scooting over to lean against the wall. “That was a pretty intense scene back there.”

"Yeah... But we got out, thanks to you.” Yuugi said, drawing his knees close to him. Atem waved his hand dismissively.

Nah, I just acted on instinct.” He drew one knee up, placing is elbow on it and perching his chin in the palm of his hand. “But let's not talk about all that. Talking about other things will help you feel better faster!”

When Yuugi was silent, Atem chuckled.

"All right, I guess I'll start. I've been meaning to tell you that I'm very impressed with your fashion choices.”

Yuugi blushed again, looking down to his outfit. With his white collared shirt wrinkled to all hell and his lavender ascot loose and frayed along the ends, he could hardly say he looked very impressive.

"Oh, um... th-thank you?” he managed to stutter out. “M-My friend, Téa, actually bought these clothes for me a few years ago after she demanded I change my wardrobe.”

Atem tilted his head. “Change your wardrobe? How come?”

Yuugi gave a small smile. “Well, I didn't really used to have the most practical taste in clothes. A large majority of my clothes were black... and leather.”

Atem chuckled.

"I had a bit of a phase,” Yuugi laughed, picking at his fingernails. “And... I have to admit, I still wear a choker every now and then. Old habits die hard.”

Atem thought for a moment, then his mouth slanted into a teasing smirk. “Well, if we're being honest, I have to admit I wouldn't mind seeing what you'd look like in leather.” He accented this statement with a flirtatious wink, which sent Yuugi's temperature through the roof.

Yuugi made a noise that was somewhere between a mortified squeak and a snort of laughter. He hid his burning face behind his knees, only to peek up to catch a glimpse of Atem's bright, laughing face.

"So, your friend Téa... she's the girl that was in that painting?” Atem shifted the subject, much to Yuugi's gratitude.

"Yeah...” A guilty knot started to pull at Yuugi's stomach, and he rested is face on his knees. “I haven't seen her or my other friends since I got lost in this crazy place. I hope they're all right...”

"I'm sure they're fine,” Atem said encouragingly. Yuugi tried to share his confidence, reminding himself that none of his friends would have too hard of a time in a place like this. He smiled as he imagined Joey punching one of the headless mannequins with little fear. Atem continued; “I'm sure we'll run into them eventually. There have to be others here, and if we find them, we'll only grow stronger with greater numbers!”

Yuugi felt a smile tugging the corner of his lips, and found it very easy to agree with Atem's proclamation.

Yuugi could feel the strength returning to his legs, and he pulled the jacket off his legs, stretching back and feeling his spine give several satisfying pops. “I think I'm all right to continue on now.”

"You sure?” Atem said, pulling himself up and reaching out a hand to help Yuugi to his feet.

Though he was a bit wobbly at first, Yuugi managed to stand upright. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. “Yeah, I'm sure. I feel a lot better.” He handed Atem's coat back to him. “Thank you.”

"Okay, if you're sure...” Atem took his coat back, pulling back on. “You let me know if you start feeling tired again. I'm may not look it, but I'm pretty strong! I'll carry you on my back if need be!”

Yuugi gave a shy laugh. “N... No, I don't think that'll be necessary.”

Atem raised an eyebrow. “Well, maybe I want to, whether it's necessary or not.”

Yuugi blushed, but couldn't help but laugh. “You must be tired, too.”

Yuugi was surprised when Atem let out a groan, running his hands down his face. “Is it that obvious?” He dragged his palms down his face, taking a long, dramatic sigh. “I woke up early to come see the Pegasus exhibition, only for all this to happen! I'm honestly so tired...” When he noticed the worried look on Yuugi's face, Atem gave him a reassuring smile. “But don't worry about me, all right? I'll be fine! Besides...” He leaned forward, waggling his eyebrows. “If I pass out, it'll be your turn to carry me.”

Yuugi just snorted, giving Atem a playful shove. “Come on, let's get going.”

Atem lead the way out of the room, but Yuugi paused when a small plaque beside the door caught his eye. In bold, curvy letters, the words “Rules of the Gallery” were etched across the top, followed by several bullet points.

 

  * _No loud conversation_
  * _No photography_
  * _No food or drink_
  * _No touching the displays_
  * _No fountain pens_
  * _No leaving ever_



 

Yuugi blinked, glancing back to the last bullet.

 

  * _No running in the building_



 

Yuugi furrowed his brows, wondering if his tired mind was playing tricks on him. Worry pricking at the back of his mind, he followed Atem out of the room.

It seemed there had been a room just down the hall from where Yuugi had collapsed. He could see the door where he came from down on the other side of the corridor, but quickly turned away to follow Atem down a short flight of stairs.

"Another door,” Atem stated, nodding towards the grey door at the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, I'd prefer not to go back,” Yuugi huffed, walking forward. “So, let's see where this place takes us next.” He tried his best to sound confident, but that same feeling of dread still put an anxious pit in his stomach as he let the door swing open.

"Well...” Yuugi took a step over the threshold into this new hallway. “I'd be happy if I weren't living a nightmare.”

The walls around them were a deep purple, much easier on the eyes than the stark grey from before. Random paintings adorned the walls, and from where he was standing Yuugi could see only two doors.

Coming up to the first door, they found it locked, so they continued to the one at the end of the hallway.

"Ugh,” Atem grumbled when he tried the knob. “This one's locked, too.”

Yuugi glanced back, seeing if this place had revealed some kind of new clue, but the hallway remained unchanged. Turning back to the door, he started to feel worry creep up his spine, when he noticed something off about its surface. Taking a step forward, he squinted, making out words etched into the violet wood.

"' _What's the title of the large floor painting in the Pegasus exhibition?_ '” Yuugi read aloud.

"What?” Atem responded, confused.

"Here,” Yuugi reached up to point out the words. “It's asking for the name of one of paintings. The big floor painting...”

Atem thought for a moment, tilting his head. “Floor painting...” Realization dawned on his face. “Oh, that big one on the first floor, with the weird-looking fish! Wasn't it, like... something... Something _of the Deep_?”

The memory of that fish flashed across Yuugi's mind, and he shivered, remembering the feeling of literally being sucked down. Down into...

"The Abyss.” Yuugi stated, quietly at first, then added in a louder tone, “ _Abyss of the Deep_.”

A loud click sounded through the hallway, and the door slowly creaked open.

Well, seems you have a better memory than me,” Atem said, nudging Yuugi with his elbow and pushing his way through the door.

The room inside had only a couple small bookshelves and a painting on the wall opposite the door.

Atem walked over to examine the painting while Yuugi went to inspect one of the bookshelves. It was crammed full with books, and Yuugi pulled one out, letting it fall open to a random page.

He immediately slammed it shut, face burning, when his eyes passed over a phrase about lips caressing something rather lewd.

"What was that?” Atem's voice came from behind him.

"Nothing!” Yuugi squeaked a little too quickly, shoving the book back into its place. He glanced over his shoulder to see Atem looking over to him curiously. Trying to hide his flushed cheeks, Yuugi just coughed into his hand.

"Come look at this painting,” Atem said, distracting Yuugi from his embarrassment. Yuugi talked over to stand beside Atem, gazing up at the large picture.

It was slightly off-putting, as many of the pieces they'd seen were. Strange black silhouettes stretched over a vibrant red background, curling towards each other but not touching. The golden plaque beneath the frame read “Seperation”.

"Why do all of these paintings have to be so creepy...?” Atem muttered, rubbing at his arms like he had chills.

Yuugi went to reply when his vision suddenly went black. He wondered if he'd passed out again, but the painful feeling of his heart jumping and the sound of Atem's shriek beside him was enough to show he was still concious.

"What happened?!” Atem's panicked voice came from beside him. “Why did the lights go out?! Yuugi, are you there?!”

"Yeah...” Yuugi's voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Y-Yeah, I'm here.” He heard shifting, then felt a hand grab hold of his arm.

"Oh god, good,” Atem muttered. He heard Atem mumble to himself, then pause. “Hold on.” Yuugi heard more shifting, the hand never leaving his arm. “I think I have my lighter. Ha, here it is!”

Yuugi heard the click of plastic, and the sharp snap of the wheel of a lighter. With a bright spark, a small flame lit up enough of the space around them for Yuugi to make out Atem's face. The fire danced in his eyes, and he could see a small bit of relief in his expression to be able to see.

A sharp, high pitched wail suddenly filled the room, causing Atem to drop his lighter, the flame going out half way to the floor, but it was needed. The lights lit themselves again, causing Yuugi to blink in the sudden harshness.

"What the hell...?” Atem croaked.

Yuugi's stomach dropped. Words had been scrawled across the walls, large and sloppy.

 

_HELP_

_NO_

_STOP_

_DONT KILL ME_

_DONT_

 

Atem stooped down to grabbed his lighter, his hand still tightly gripping Yuugi's arm.

"Let's get out of here,” Yuugi said quietly, pulling Atem towards the door. Atem followed behind him, pulling his gaze away from the writing.

Just outside the room, neat red words had appeared along the walls.

 

_A notice to all visitors. There is a strict ban on fire-starting implements in the gallery. We request that you please report the use of any matches, lighters, or the like._

 

"Okay, okay, we get it.” Yuugi sassed to whatever strange force was watching them. “Fire bad, whatever. Put away the lighter so they stop throwing a fit,”

Atem seemed surprised at Yuugi's sudden cheeky tone, and to be honest, so was Yuugi.

"Sorry, I just...” Yuugi heasitated, pulling his bottom lip beneath his teeth.

"No, it's okay.” Atem's mouth twitched into a small smile. “Is that how you normally act?”

"I... I guess?” Yuugi let out a small chuckle. “I can be a bit of a... 'sassmaster', to quote Téa.”

Atem snorted. “Well, I suppose that means you've warmed up to me a bit, if you're relaxed enough to show that side of you.”

Yuugi wrung his hands together, his smile growing a bit wider. “I... I suppose, yeah. You're easy to get along with.”

Atem gave him a bright smile, the fright from the scene before gone. “Well, thank you. I find your company pleasing, myself.”

Yuugi felt himself blush, turning around. “Come on, let's just keep moving, we can talk about each others company once we're out of here.”

He heard Atem chuckle, but he didn't say anything more about Yuugi's change in attitude. Instead, he suddenly pointed out, “Look there, on the floor.”

Yuugi looked down to where he pointed, a bit farther along the hallway. Vibrant against the purple floor were foot prints, and Yuugi for just a moment thought it might be blood, but then he remembered the red words behind them, and reasoned that it must be paint.

"They lead to that other door...” Atem said, stepping forward.

"I don't have a good feeling about this...” Yuugi sighed.

"Have you had a single good feeling since you got here?”

"That's fair.”

Atem gave a smile that didn't hide his nerves, and found that the previously locked down opened easily.

Yuugi made to follow him, but in a sudden whirl of motion, he just managed to jump out of the way as Atem was barreled to the ground.

The stranger had been caught by surprise as well; he stumbled backwards with a shout, staring wide-eyed at the two of them as Yuugi ran over to help Atem to his feet.

"Wha...” Atem stumbled a bit, trying to focus on the boy who had knocked him over. Yuugi looked over to study him as well.

Next to Atem's dark skin, the stranger seemed to have an unearthly glow in its paleness. His hair was so light, it didn't seem right to describe it as blonde, more like a silver. His dark brown eyes looked from Yuugi's face to Atem's in bewilderment.

Atem looked annoy at having been knocked over at first, but then his look shifted to excitement.

"Wait... are you another person from the gallery?” Atem questioned. The stranger's eyebrows raised.

"I...” The stranger swallowed nervously, his voice pitched and wavering. “I was looking to see if I could find anyone else...”

"What luck!” Atem exclaimed, walking over and reaching out a hand. The stranger hesitated, but slowly reached out and took Atem's hand in his own, pulling himself to his feet. He stood a good few inches taller than both Yuugi and Atem. His clothes were strangely formal-looking, but it seemed to fit his overall look.

"My name's Atem,” Atem said, giving the stranger his warm smile. “And this is Yuugi.”

Yuugi gave him a nod and a small smile.

"And you?” Atem prompted.

The stranger hesitated, then responded softly. “Ryou.”

"Ryou, huh?” Atem nodded. “Well, how about coming along with us? We're trying to find a way out of here.”

"Come with you...?” Ryou looked confused for a moment, then smiled. “Oh, yes! I'd like that!”

Yuugi felt a chill rocket up his spine. He rubbed at the goosebumps that suddenly covered his arms, grimacing in confusion. The other two didn't seem to notice as Atem gestured for the newly formed trio to carry on. Yuugi hung back behind the other two, staring at the back of Ryou's head. When Ryou had smiled, an ominous feeling had rising in Yuugi's mind, only to dissipate a moment later.

"Yuugi thought it over, then decided to ignore it for now. He was just being suspicious, and Atem seemed to trust him. Though Yuugi felt they may need to be a bit more cautious, he supposed they couldn't really afford to turn away an extra person in this dangerous place.

"Yuugi?”

Yuugi was jolted from his thoughts at the still unfamiliar voice of Ryou saying his name. Ryou had paused just down the hallway, Atem a few steps ahead of him.

"Are you coming?” Ryou askes, the epitome of innocence and friendliness.

Yuugi hesitated, the smiled, hoping it appeared natural. “Yeah,” he replied, trotting forward to meet the other two, trying to ignore the nagging sense of unease snaking its way through the back of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone who's given me feedback! it really gives me so much motivation. i promise i'll try not to take so long with the next chapter;;;
> 
> once again, those who've played the game, no spoilers por favor!!!


	4. Isolation and Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: i'm not going to take as long with the next chapter  
> me, four months later: HAHAHA SHIT!
> 
> i'm so sorry guys!! i'll definitely have the next chapter out faster!! i hope you enjoy the chapter, some Spooks happen!

Yuugi had never felt this kind of impending dread before, and it was a feeling he couldn't explain.

Ryou seemed like good company, flashing both him and Atem kind smiles and leading them down the purple-walled hallway he had come from, and exchanging pleasant conversation.

“Do you have a rose, Ryou?” Atem asked, pulling his own red flower from the button hole of his jacket. Yuugi instinctively reached down to take his rose from his bag.

“I do,” Ryou replied, and Yuugi wasn't quite sure he caught where Ryou pulled his rose from. It looked just like his and Atem's, only Ryou's was a deep blue.

“We best be careful with them,” Atem began, puffing his chest out and trying to sound as if he was the leader of their little rag-tag group. “We aren't sure what sort of dangers are waiting ahea-”

Before he could finish, Ryou trotted back to stand beside Yuugi, his brown eyes sparkling.

“Your rose is such a lovely colour!” Ryou said, holding his rose beside Yuugi's. Yuugi resisted the urge to pull his rose away. “Blue is probably my favourite colour, but purple is nice, as well!”

Atem's face twitched with annoyance. “Are you even listening to me...?” He muttered, reaching to gently rub a thumb over one of the petals of his rose.

“Nevermind, Atem,” Yuugi said with a smile, patting Atem's arm and leading them forward. Atem let out a huff, but said nothing else and followed.

The hallway ended abruptly. To the left, there was a set of stairs, which Yuugi cautiously ascended. At the top, there was another hallway to their left that lead to a door, and another door just ahead of them. Yuugi stepped forward to try the door, but, true to the pattern of this place, it was locked.

“Might as well try the other one, maybe there's a key.” Ryou said, taking off down the hallway. Atem raised and eyebrow, and Yuugi had to wonder what he was thinking. However, he just shrugged and made to follow Ryou, Yuugi falling into step with him.

Ryou had already reached the door. “It's open!” he called behind to the other two, pushing it open and stepping inside. Atem walked a bit faster to catch up, but Yuugi paused in the middle of the hallway, a painting catching his eye.

The plaque beneath it read _Flowers of Jealousy._ Yuugi took a step forward to inspect it, his brows furrowing. There were no flowers in this painting; it seemed more like it was a picture of a brown, barren landscape. Something about the name of the painting, along with the lack of vegetation within it, made Yuugi uneasy, but he didn't have long to think about it before he heard Atem calling him from the room ahead.

Yuugi paced quickly over to walk through the door and join his companions. His eyes grew wide with surprise.

There were two thin tables set up within this room, as well as two shelves that lined the walls to the left and right. Placed evenly on the surfaces of the tables and shelves were small, ceramic rabbits of varying colours. Yuugi walked forward to inspect one, and it looked back at him with small, round black eyes. Yuugi couldn't help but smile; these were the first cute things he'd seen in his place.

He glanced back to the other two. Ryou and Atem were standing before a large painting on the wall opposite the door depicting a round, pink rabbit with bright red eyes that sat in a green field with a blue sky behind it. Yuugi walked up to join them, reading the plaque beneath the painting. _Red Eyes._

“Eugh...” Atem mumbled beside him, and Yuugi turned to him curiously. He was clutching at his arms, rubbing at them like he had chills. “That's... not creepy at all.”

“Creepy?” Ryou asked, tilting his head. “What's creepy? The painting? I think it's cute...”

“Cute?!” Atem repeated, glancing around with wide eyes. “What about this room is cute?!”

Yuugi looked back to the painting, looking at it a bit closer. No matter what angle he looked at it from, it just seemed to be a painting of a rabbit.

“I don't know, Atem...” Yuugi said, giving him a concerned smile. “It looks pretty cute to me.”

Atem stared at him, seemingly flabbergasted. He looked back at the painting, studying it for a moment, before he just shivered and shook his head. “Let's just look for a key and get out of here,” he said, walking over to one of the two little bookshelves that flanked the rabbit painting and starting to pull out the books from it. Ryou went to look through the other shelf.

Yuugi made to inspect the small rabbit statues around the room. Most of them were pink and white, but there was one green one that sat among them. Yuugi couldn't help but smile, admiring the stark difference between this rabbit and the others, then going to look through the rest. As he passed the green rabbit, he heard it shift behind him, then the telling crack as it hit the floor.

Yuugi spun around, wondering how he could have broken the statue when he hadn't even touched it, when he saw something purple sitting among the green pieces. Leaning down, he carefully shifted through the broken pieces, uncovering a violet key.

“I found it!” Yuugi called to the other two. “I found the key!”

Atem looked relieved as he shut the book he was looking through, setting down on top of the shelf and walking over to Yuugi, Ryou following behind. “Good, then let's get out of here a move on.”

Yuugi was still confused at what Atem could find so unnerving about this room. Maybe he just wasn't a rabbit person? But, seeing the discomfort on Atem's face, Yuugi didn't want to continue to stay somewhere Atem was obviously uncomfortable. So, he lead the way out of the room and down the hallway, back towards the locked door.

As they neared the _Flowers of Jealousy_ painting, Atem stopped, Ryou almost bumping into him, which is what caught Yuugi's attention. Atem's face was furrowed in concentration, and he held a finger to his lips, asking for silence.

After a moment, he spoke. “Do you hear that?”

Yuugi glanced around, listening carefully. Ryou stepped around Atem, his own head tilted, trying to catch whatever sound Atem was hearing.

Yuugi barely caught it; a strange rumbling noise was coming from somewhere around them.

“What is that...?” Yuugi asked quietly, taking a step back. Ryou took another step toward Yuugi, listening hard as the rumbling grew louder.

“It... sounds like it's getting closer...” Ryou said, closing his eyes. They all stood, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from.

Everything happened very fast. Yuugi glanced over to see something pop over the horizon of the landscape inside _Flowers of Jealousy._ It grew closer, Yuugi making out strange-looking, dark red flowers. The rumbling grew very loud very fast, the ground beneath them shaking. Yuugi was frozen to the spot, looking down to the floor, and he barely heard Atem yell, “Yuugi, look out!”

He felt a hand grab him, pulling him back as the tips of three huge, thick vines crashed through the floor just where he'd been standing. Yuugi's ass hit the ground before he could fully register what was happening, watching numbly as the vines curled aggressively upward, growing taller and taller, until they touched the ceiling. Little red flowers sudden bloomed between the thick thorns along the vines. _Flowers of Jealousy._

Yuugi's heard beat painfully against his chest, and he quickly glanced around. “Is everyone okay?!” he squeaked out, breathless. He was a bit relieved when he saw Ryou laying beside him. It must have been him who pulled him away from the vines, but he couldn't see Atem.

“Yuugi!”

Yuugi's head whipped around, and his stomach dropped when he saw Atem looking back at him from the other side of the vines.

“Atem!” Yuugi exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. He grabbed the vines in his hands, only to find they were made of stone. Atem gave him a smile that didn't quite hide the worry in his expression

“What are we gonna do?” Ryou said, walking over and placing a hand on the vines. He craned his neck to look where the vines touched the ceiling.

“Well, I can't climb them, or go through these gaps, they're too thin,” Atem said, crossing his arms as he thought. “And they're made out of pretty hard stone,” He rapped his knuckled against them. “So I can't see us busting them down.”

Yuugi didn't say anything, just watched Atem's face, his mind racing as he tried to think of some way to get him through, when he felt Ryou touch his shoulder.

“Yuugi, you have the key, right?” Ryou asked. Yuugi had almost forgot about the key he was clutching in his hand. “Maybe if we go through that door, we can find something to help us take down these vines.”

“No way,” Yuugi said firmly, turning back to Atem, “I don't want us to separate, I don't want to leave Atem here alone.”

Ryou blinked in surprise. “We'd be really quick!” he said, concern in his tone. “I don't want to separate either, but we don't have much of a choice.” Ryou turned to look at Atem. “What do you think?”

Atem's mouth slanted into a frown as he thought, his eyes closed and his forehead creased. “I don't like the idea of separating, either,” he said after a moment, “But we don't really have much of a choice.”

“But, Atem-!” Yuugi started to protest, placing a hand in the gap between two of the vines. Atem leaned forward, putting his hand gently over Yuugi's.

“I don't want to do it either, but we have to,” Atem said, then smiled reassuringly at Yuugi. “I'll be okay. I'll trust you guys to come back quick, and I'll wait right here, okay?”

Yuugi studied his face, still wanting to argue, but he nodded reluctantly. Pulling away from Atem's touch, he turned to start down towards the locked door. “Come on, Ryou, let's hurry.”

Yuugi glanced back at Atem, who continued to smile reassuringly at him, until they turned the corner and he couldn't see him anymore.

Quickly unlocking the door, Yuugi and Ryou found themselves in a room with piles of boxes. To the left of the door, there was another headless mannequin, and Yuugi waited only a moment to see if it would move. When it didn't, he made towards the boxes, starting to look through the ones he could get open quickly, Ryou looking through others.

The ones Yuugi managed to get through all seemed to only be filled with painting supplies. At one point, Ryou called over to him.

“I found a palette knife!” he said, waving the instrument around. “Do you think that could help?”

Yuugi looked over to the small, blunt knife, obviously made more for chipping away at paint than taking down the thick stone vines.

“I don't think so,” Yuugi replied.

“Yeah, you're probably right,” Ryou said, frowning. He looked at the palette knife for a moment before slipping it into his back pocket. “I'll hang onto it, though. It may be useful later.”

Just as he said that, the lights flickered. Yuugi saw Ryou glance around in surprise, then heard him squeak a bit when the lights went out completely.

“What happened?!” he called, and Yuugi heard him trip over one of the loose boxes.

“The lights went out,” Yuugi said flatly, glaring into the darkness. “Another staple of this place, it seems,”

As he spoke, the lights shuddered back to life, causing Yuugi to blink several times to try and adjust. Ryou was pushing himself to his feet a little ways away, dusting himself off.

“Well, it looks like there's nothing here,” Ryou said, peeking into the box that had knocked him off his feet. “We should probably head back to Atem and try and figure something else out.”

Yuugi nodded, but as he and Ryou went to return to the previous hallway, they found their way blocked by the headless black mannequin.

“Wasn't this thing standing over there just a minute ago?” Ryou asked, his voice trembling.

“Yeah, well, it seems despite being headless, these things have a mind of their own.” Yuugi huffed, walking up to the static doll. “It must have moved when the lights went out, so we wouldn't see.” He stood before it for just a moment, wondering if he stood close enough if it would give chase, but it remained still in it's rigid pose.

Reaching out, Yuugi strained to push against the mannequin, but it didn't budge. “Ryou, come help me!” he called over. Ryou trotted up, bracing himself against the figure. Though he stood so much taller than Yuugi, it seemed he shared his lack of strength, for the mannequin remained stubbornly in place.

Anxiety welled up in Yuugi's chest, the thought of leaving Atem stuck behind those thorns worrying him to the point of nausea.

“Yuugi, look,” Ryou was pointing to the other side of the room. Across from them, there was another, unblocked door. “Perhaps there's a way we can make our way back around?

Yuugi hesitated, looking back at the door the mannequin was blocking.

“We can't get back through there,” Ryou said softly. “So there's no use sticking around here.”

Yuugi was hesitant, turning back to stare at the blocked doorway. Ryou had a point, no matter how much Yuugi wanted to fight and try to get around this stupid mannequin. He was quiet for another moment before heaving a long sigh.

“You're right...” He conceded, turning and striding towards the other door. “Let's hurry."

The door lead them to another hallway so long Yuugi couldn't see the end of it. Without pausing, Yuugi started down the hallway, the souls of his boots clacking loudly with his determined stride. He could hear Ryou struggling to keep up behind him.

“Yuugi?” Ryou finally managed to catch up, which wasn't hard considering his legs were so much longer than Yuugi's. “Is Atem your brother?”

Yuugi felt his face start to warm up. “No!” he answered, a little too quickly.

“Oh. You seemed so intent on getting back to him, I just figured...” He paused for a moment. “So he's your friend?”

Yuugi had to think for a moment. “I... suppose? We met here, in this place, so we haven't known each other very long.”

Ryou was quiet for a moment after that, keeping in stride with Yuugi as they continued along the hallway.

“Do you have friends?” Ryou asked suddenly.

Yuugi glanced at him. “Er... yeah?”

“What are they like?”

Yuugi looked at Ryou, who stared back at him with an earnest gaze.

“Well...” Yuugi started, “There's Joey, and he's a big goof. He loves to joke around and tease me, but he's got a good heart.”

Ryou was still watching him, listening intently, so Yuugi continued.

“And Tristan's an... interesting person. He jokes around a lot with Joey, but he's a lot more serious. It's hard to get a good read on him, but he's a good guy.”

Yuugi started to smile, the anxiety in his stomach lessening a bit as he talked about his friends.

“And then there's Téa. She's... kind of the groups mom friend. She's super talented and kind, and doesn't take shit from anyone. She's dependable and would do anything for her friends.” Yuugi took a deep breath, his smile growing wider, feeling a bit of strength return to him. “I'm gonna find them, and then we're gonna get out of this place together.”

Ryou was quiet for a moment, and Yuugi thought he saw a flash of something sad cross his face, but it was gone in a moment, replaced with a smile.

“They sound wonderful,” Ryou said, looking forward. “I'd love to meet them.”

“I'm sure they'd like to meet you, too,” Yuugi said softly.

“Really?” Ryou asked, surprising Yuugi with how excited he suddenly seemed. “Do you think they'd want to be friends?”

Yuugi had to pause, taken aback by Ryou's sudden change from looking sullen to gazing at Yuugi with vibrant, thrilled eyes. Yuugi couldn't help it when his mouth twitched into a smile.

“Sure!” he replied, “I'm positive they'd wanna be friends.”

Ryou's smile grew blindingly bright, and he picked up his pace. “Let's go, then! Let's find Atem, locate your friends, and get out of here!”

Yuugi watched as Ryou overtook him to lead the way down the hall. He suspected Ryou must be pretty lonely if he was so happy at the idea of making friends...

Ryou stopped, turning back to look at Yuugi. His expression was a little more serious, and Yuugi tilted his head curiously.

“Hey, Yuugi...?” Ryou asked, fiddling with his hands a bit. “If... only two of use could leave, who would you go with?”

Yuugi's eyes widened. “That's a weird question...” Yuugi said, his eyebrows furrowing.

“I'm... just curious.”

Yuugi averted his eyes, thinking for a moment.

“I...” He thought hard, trying to figure out a genuine answer. Looking up to meet Ryou's eyes, he gave him a small smile.

“I'd sacrifice myself, probably.” Yuugi answered, “It wouldn't be fair to choose...”

Ryou looked surprised at his answer, and he took a step forward, taking Yuugi's hands in his own, his eyes shimmering.

“No way, you can't do that!” Ryou exclaimed, squeezing Yuugi's hand. “We'll leave together, definitely, okay?”

Yuugi examined Ryou's face, then nodded. Ryou smiled, releasing Yuugi's hand and continuing to walk down the hallway.

It was then that Yuugi's thoughts shifted back to Atem. That anxiety starting gripping at his stomach again, a kind of cold dread dripping down his spine. He wondered how Atem was holding up on his own...

 

-

 

Atem sat, cross-legged, at the base of the stone vines that blocked his path. His eyes were closed, and one of his knees bounced impatiently.

He let out a groan, heaving himself to his feet and leaning to try and see beyond his vision limited by the blockade.

“They're taking an awfully long time...” He muttered to himself. “Yuugi!” he called out, as loud as he would allow himself in this dangerous place. “Ryou! Can you hear me?!”

All that answered was that same cold silence. Worry snaked through him, and he tapped his fingers anxiously on the stone surface of the vines.

“I hope they're all right... Perhaps they've gotten into trouble...?” He worried his bottom lip with his teeth, turning around to look at the door to the room where they'd discovered the purple key.

“I suppose I could investigate that room again...” A chill raced up his spine, reluctance edging his words. “Though, I'd really prefer not to... but there might be something that can help in there...”

Every instinct told him to stay where he was, that he shouldn't go back in that room, but he ignored his gut, and made his way back to the room.

Goosebumps raised on his arms as he glanced around the room. The huge painting on the wall opposite the door glared at him, some sort of gremlin-like creature with blue skin. Its mouth almost seemed like it was haphazardly sewn shut with a thick red string, and its black hair stuck up wildly, framing its round head like a mane. Its red eyes stared right through him, and it grinned, placing an unsettling pit in his stomach.

Atem rubbed at his arms, grimacing. “I'm not sure what's up with those two...” He muttered. “There is nothing 'cute' about anything in this room.”

All around the room, dolls lined the shelves on the walls, similar to the creature in the painting, all dressed in different colour shirts. Atem avoided looking directly at them, especially the one laying on the floor with a ripped open stomach, the one Yuugi had extracted the key from.

On either side of the painting were bookshelves. Atem walked over to one of them, picking a book and letting it fall open to a random page. It fell to the beginning of a chapter titled Ruin of the Heart.

 

_If your mind suffers too much, you will start to hallucinate... And, in the end, it will all break apart. And more worrying yet..._

_Is that you will not be able to realise that fact._

 

Atem furrowed his brow. “Interesting... not very helpful, though...” He said, putting the book back on the shelf. He walked over to the bookshelf on the other side of the painting, examining its contents for a moment before he sighed.

“Nothing here, either.” He leaned against the shelf, trying to come up with some sort of plan, only too feel his heart skip when the shelf budged under his weight. Stumbling for a moment, he managed to regain his balance whipping around.

There was a hole behind the bookshelf, large enough for him to crawl through. He managed to easily push the shelf the rest of the way, ducking down to shimmy through the opening.

Glancing around, he found himself at the end of a long, purple hallway. Just in front of him, one of the dolls like the ones in the room behind him sat on the floor, a bit of light purple paint on the wall spelling out a message beside it.

 

_Hello there, Atem..._

_I don't like being alone..._

_Take me with you...!_

 

Atem furrowed his brow, glancing at the doll. Its red, button eyes stared at the opposite wall, its wild black yarn hair tangled, its grin menacing. The fact this thing had probably moved enough to write this message, and knew his name, unnerved him greatly.

Electing to ignore the doll, he made his way down the hallway, coming to a turn. Rounding the corner, he stopped, his heartbeat picking up. What appeared to be the same doll sat before him, still grinning, more writing on the wall beside it.

 

_Hey, why aren't you taking me?_

 

Atem turned to continue down the hall, only to find the doll as it appeared from nowhere a little ways down, its head tilted to the side in an unsettling way.

 

_Why are you ignoring me?_

_Do you hate me?_

 

 _Sure do_ , Atem thought, deciding it was probably not a good idea to say this out loud. This thing could teleport, who knew what else it could do.

 

He came to another corner and turned, suppressing a groan when he came across the doll again.

 

_Hey, play with me!_

_I know lots of fun things we could do..._

 

“I'm sure you do...” Atem mumbled, annoyance in his tone, and he continued passed it, feeling his temper rising when the doll appeared again.

 

_I've got lots of friends, too._

_I'll introduce you!_

 

Atem grunted, his teeth gritting when the doll followed him once again.

 

_Be here forever..._

 

Rounding another corner, he was relieved to find another door, only to feel fury clench in his gut at the sight of the doll sitting on the ground before the door.

“Why do you keep following me?!” Atem snapped, approaching the doll. “I'm not interested in being your pal, so leave me alone!”

An urge to kick the doll to the wall overtook him, and he was just about to do it, when the memory of Yuugi stopping him from kicking the mannequin head flashed in his mind. Taking a deep breath, he worked hard to calm his frayed nerves, instead leaning down and moving the doll gently to the side.

Moving forward, he tried the door, only to find it locked. The sound of a hand slapping against the wall made him jump back, and he found writing just to the left of the door on the wall.

 

_T A K E  M E_

 

Atem took a long, deep breath, then stepped forward again, ignoring the doll and finding the door had unlocked itself.

The doll was on the other side of the door, but Atem ignored it. Entering the room beyond the door, he saw three different doors on each wall, all closed. Crossing the room, he tried the door on the opposite side first, only to twitch in irritation when it was locked.

Glancing back to the other two doors, he saw the doll had moved to sit beside one of them. Atem reluctantly walked over to it, seeing more writing on the wall.

 

_I found something good! I'm keeping it, as a treasure!_

 

Glancing at the doll, Atem saw it had a purple key in its lap. Atem quickly reached out, only for the doll to let out an eerie shriek, dodging Atem's grip and darting past him. As fast as Atem could turn around, he heard the door on the opposite wall slam shut, a loud, telling click echoing through the room. Running over, Atem grabbed the knob, yelling in anger when the door was locked.

The same sound of something smacking the wall caught his attention. More writing appeared beside the door.

 

_Catch me if you can!_

_Maybe my friends can help you in our game of chase!_

 

“Your friends...?” Atem huffed, glancing around. This room was empty, save for the doors. There weren't even any paintings on the wall, which Atem couldn't help but feel was unsettling. Then, he remembered the door on the other side of the room.

Turning back, he trotted over to the door. Turning the knob, it opened easily, but a shiver raced through Atem's entire body; the doorknob was strangely cold, and a draft of chilling air exhaled from inside the room beyond as the door creaked open.

Atem's stomach dropped; the room was filled to the brim with the morbid dolls. Some bigger ones lined the walls, some hung from the ceilings, nooses around their necks, stuffing overflowing from their torn seams. They littered the floor, all grinning wildly at him. A rush of wind forced Atem forward, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Hey!” he shouted, turning to tug at the knob, but it rattled uselessly. The same smacking down as before made him jump, and he looked up to see shining purple letters glaring at him on the door's surface.

 

_Hide and seek!_

_Who, who, who has the key?_

_Find it, and the door will unlock!_

 

Atem swallowed, screeching when the room started to shutter violently around him, the dolls on the floor bouncing around. The air grew even colder, Atem's heavy breathing raising in front of him in a puff. The sweat on his brow stung, threatening to freeze against his skin.

There was an empty painting frame on the wall opposite the door. Atem watched, frozen in horror, as a thin, purple hand slowly rose from within the frame.

A low rumble settled over the room, and Atem stood, rooted to the spot, for another few moments before he was snapped out of his frightened stance, watching as the thing in the painting continued to rise, obviously another one of the strange doll creatures as its ratty black mane of hair peeked over the top of the frame.

Atem dove forward, grabbing one of the dolls and shaking it. Nothing fell from it, but he could feel something hard inside its stomach. Turning the doll over, he found a place where the stitching was loose, ripping it open, only for a large black rock to fall out.

Panic was making him clumsy, the cold making his hands tremble. Tears stung at his eyes and he continued to grab dolls, ripping them open only for mundane objects to fall from within them. The monster in the painting was rising farther, its face now in clear view, its stitched mouth open as wide as it could go, glaring at him hungrily.

He watched as the monster started to climb from the frame, reaching out to him slowly. His eyes were trained on it as he ripped open another doll, hearing a metallic clink on the floor. Whipping around he cried out in relief to see a bright purple key shining on the floor before him. A click sounded throughout the room.

Grabbing the key, he scrambled to his feet, not looking back at the monster from within the painting. He heard it scrabbling behind him, obviously picking up its pace now that he had a chance at freedom. He reached the door, yanking it open, and turning around just in time to see all the dolls turned to stare at him with wide, wicked grins. The monster roared, reaching out to him, but Atem slammed the door in its face.

Rushing backwards, Atem didn't stop until he had reached the opposite wall. When he felt his back hit the door, he let himself slide down, breathing heavily, the tips of his fingers burning as the recovered from the cold. He kept a death grip on the purple key, even if the freezing metal was stinging his skin.

He took a long time, taking in deep, laboured breaths as he tried to bring himself down from panic. His whole body was shuddering violently, whether from his body recuperating from the cold or from fear, it was hard to tell. Lifting a shaking hand, he looked down at the key in his palm, then glanced at the door behind him.

A sudden rush of anger brought him to his feet. He still shook, but he found new confidence as he thought of all the trouble this stupid doll had put him through when he needed to get back to Yuugi and Ryou.

Quickly unlocking the door, Atem barged in, looking around and spotting the doll sitting on top of an open book on the floor. Atem grabbed it roughly by the scruff, feeling it has something heavy inside. Without hesitation, he ripped the doll open, huffing when the key feel from its body. Tossing it back down to the floor, Atem leaned down to pick it up. The book the doll had been sitting on caught his attention.

It was a collection of Pegasus's works. Putting the key in one of his jacket pockets, Atem picked the book up, thumbing through it.

“It's a shame,” Atem muttered, turning the pages, glancing at all the different paintings. “His work is beautiful. I wish I could have enjoyed it normally, instead of being thrusted into this crazy hellhole.”

He almost didn't catch it, almost shut the book to continue on, but at the last second, he did a double take.

A familiar face stared back at him from one of the last pages of the book, a boy smiling at him with bright brown eyes, a soft face framed by soft silver hair.

Glancing down at the small paragraph beneath the picture, Atem's blood turned cold.

 

_Ryou (date painted unknown)_

_The last work of Pegasus's life. While the boy appears almost lifelike, like all of Pegasus works, he is not based on a real person._

 

Atem dropped the book, backing up, trying to process his thoughts.

“ _Not based on a real person_...” Atem repeated in a soft, hoarse voice. “Ryou...”

He barely processed a painting of an ear titled Strained Ear on one of the walls bouncing up and down.

“Oh, god,” Atem choked out, turning and tearing the door of the room open, racing across the room to the final locked door, two thoughts racing through his mind.

 

Ryou was a painting.

 

Yuugi was in danger.

 


	5. Confrontations and Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me: i promise the next chapter won't take as long! :))  
> me, now: my readers must hate me time to bury myself
> 
> I DO THIS STUPID TAKE-MONTHS-TO-UPDATE SHIT AGAIN AND THEN THE CHAPTER IS THIS SHORT
> 
> i'm sorry guys i'm gonna go just like  
> bury myself in the front yard rip
> 
> but anyway, here's a lackluster chapter that i didn't even bother proofreading because really at this point i just want to get this fic done  
> not that i'm not enjoying it, i am! but i feel bad keeping y'all waiting!! ; v ;
> 
> a few actual chapter notes; i had to basically make up an entire puzzle so sorry that part is... bad lmao. also maybe some puzzleshipping?? finally??? hallelujah.  
> i hope you can enjoy!

 Yuugi and Ryou were fairing well enough on their own. Every now and then, a strange puzzle would place itself before them, only to be quickly figured out by Yuugi.

It was almost as if everything around them was a game, Yuugi thought, watching as the strange, tree-shaped key they'd found hidden away in a book on some ill-placed shelf granted them entrance into another door.

“This is actually kind of fun,” Ryou said, peeking inside the room beyond, Yuugi following close behind him.

“If you say so...” Yuugi responded with a smile. Ryou had kept a smile the whole time, facing the challenges them before them with shimmering eyes, and Yuugi couldn't help but find his optimistic demeanor infectious.

The new room they'd found themselves in was spacious, a simple square room, the walls adorned with different paintings, and a door on each side. Ryou had already crossed to the one opposite the door they'd entered, turning to glance at Yuugi with a frustrated look.

“That one's locked!” Ryou called, trotting back to Yuugi.

“As expected,” Yuugi huffed. “I feel like I've grown to used to this place by now, so I'm not surprised anymore. We can probably find a key around here somewhere.”

They set off to the door to their right, finding it opened with no trouble. A smaller room was inside, a single painting hanging on the wall to their left of a peaceful scene with a moon and star, light clouds dotting the background. Across the way was one of the headless mannequin, and Yuugi and Ryou were still only for a moment, making sure it wasn't ready to attack, before they moved forward, caution in every step.

“Look,” Yuugi said as he leaned forward, glancing past the figure. “It's standing in front of a doorway.”

The mannequins width was just enough to cover the length of the door frame. It was guarding a set of stairs.

“Should we try and move her?” Ryou asked, though his voice was less than confident.

“I doubt we could,” Yuugi admitted, defeat in his tone. “We should wait until we meet up with Atem, he can probably move it.”

Ryou laughed. “He's not much bigger than you, but he's stronger than both of us put together.” He reached up to scratch at his head sheepishly. “Wonder why that is?”

Yuugi shrugged. “Maybe he lifts.”

He tried not to get distracted by the image of a bare-armed, sweating, bench-pressing Atem now haunting in the back of his mind.

The other door lead them to what seemed to be another puzzle; in front of them was a large, gaping chasm in the floor, too wide to be jumped. The walls all around them were grey. Yuugi squinted, trying to see on the other side of the hole. He could see a small, lone table, placed in front of a wall with a painting of something he couldn't make out, he could only see grey. What appeared to be a key sat on the table.

“How are we supposed to get over there?” Ryou asked, inching forward to glance over the edge into the split in the floor.

“There's gotta be some way,” Yuugi said, glancing around. On the wall beside the door they'd come through was a plaque, words etched in simple letters.

_Speak the name of the bridge's guard_

_A path across you'll gain_

_A man whose whole existence_

_Depends on light and rain_

 

“A riddle...” Yuugi muttered. Ryou came up behind him, reading the poem and furrowing his brow.

“The name of the guard?” Ryou said, glancing around. “What guard?”

Yuugi turned to look around the room as well, but he couldn't see a guard anywhere. Looking back to the riddle, he read it over again.

“ _A man whose whole existence..._ ” Yuugi quoted under his breath, “ _Depends on light and rain..._ ” He turned to examine the room again. The grey walls were stark, a contrast to the room behind them, with it's soft, pale yellow walls. He still couldn't make out the painting across the way.

“What depends on light and rain?” Yuugi pondered, placing his hands on his hips.

“Uh... plants?” Ryou offered.

“Plants...” Yuugi repeated. “Yeah, I guess... It says it wants a name, though. I guess plants can be names... Ivy? Rose? Lily?” He said the names of the plants out loud, but was met with silence and stillness, no path across revealed.

There was something not there, a piece he was missing. He placed everything in front of him, cracking his knuckles as he thought. The name of the guard of a grey room whose existence depended on light and rain...

“There's no colour,” Yuugi said suddenly, a light bulb flicking to life in his mind. “This room is grey. Light and rain can make a rainbow, it can fill this room with colour.”

“But it wants a name,” Ryou said. “I don't think 'rainbow' is a very common name...”

Yuugi kept thinking, nibbling lightly on the end of his thumbnail. “A name... colours can be names.” He started listing off the colours of the rainbow.

“Red... Orange... Yellow... Blue...”

Realisation dawned on him like the sun breaking through a rainy day.

“They're all a name,” Yuugi said. “The way to remember the colours of the rainbow, it's a name!”

Yuugi trotted up to the edge of the chasm, mentally crossing his fingers.

“ROY G BIV.” he announced.

He watched as colour seemed to drip down on the walls, the same yellow as the room outside. Looking down, Yuugi felt his stomach flip with elation as a bridge formed in front of him, dressed in the seven colours of the rainbow.

“Wow!” Ryou breathed, his smile wide. “I'd never be able to figure that out! What is ROY G BIV? Is that English?”

“Yeah, it's an American thing,” Yuugi replied. “Joey told me about it. While this place is probably hell, it is based on Pegasus's works, and Pegasus is American, so I guess it makes sense...” Yuugi stopped, contemplating this puzzle in this nightmare of an art gallery probably a little more than he needed to.

“Anyway!” Yuugi snapped himself out of this thought, “Wait here, I'll run and grab the key.”

He trotted across the bridge, thankful to find it was stable. His hand was just above the key when a sound caught his attention.

 

_Hee hee hee..._

 

A chill raced up his spine. He glanced around, noticing a painting he hadn't seen from across the room to his left.

A mouth, thin-lipped and grinning with mirth, was moving ever so slightly. Yuugi could hear the sound of muttering and chuckling. The small plaque beneath the piece read Tattletail.

“ _I know..._ ” The voice was high-pitched, and sounded no louder than a soft breeze, but it chilled Yuugi's blood. “ _I know his secret...! I know...!_ ”

Yuugi could feel his heart beat in his throat, so he grabbed the key, turning to cross the bridge and join Ryou.  
  
When he found his way to the other side, Yuugi was alone.

Running back out into the first room, Yuugi was relieved to find Ryou waiting for him in the centre.

“There you are,” Yuugi huffed, “Don't run off like that! I've got the key, let's keep going.”

Ryou didn't answer. His eyes were misty, and he didn't look Yuugi's way. He just stared up to the ceiling.

“Ryou...?” Yuugi reached a hand out, only to freeze when Ryou spoke.

“Ryou...” he repeated his name. “Yes... I'm Ryou...” He looked down to his hands. “I'm Ryou... I'm Ryou...! I'm Ryou, I'm Ryou!” He started laughing, grasping at his face, voice cracking as he bent over. Yuugi stood rooted to the spot, a seed of dread in his stomach.

“Ryou-!” Just as Yuugi had found his voice, Ryou turned, bolting back through the door they'd originally come from. “Ryou, wait!”

Yuugi ran after him, barely catching a glimpse of his silver hair as Ryou rounded a corner ahead of him down the narrow hallway.

Following, Yuugi stopped when he spotted Ryou just down hall, knelt down on the floor. Yuugi approached him cautiously, only to stop when he saw Ryou raise his arms above his head, the palette knife he'd collected earlier clutched in his hand. Yuugi watched as Ryou stabbed the knife down, hearing it connect with what sounded like porcelain.

Creeping forward, Yuugi saw that Ryou was violently stabbing at one of the white mannequin heads from before.

“In my way...” Yuugi caught Ryou's voice, soft and wavering, as he glared down at the head. “In my way... In my _way_...”

A chill shot up Yuugi's spine, goosebumps peppering his skin, and he started to back away. An instinctual wariness crept into his mind, and, quietly as he could, he turned, stumbling back into the room.

Something wasn't right. Something was telling him he had to get away from Ryou.

Yuugi crossed the room to the locked door, fumbling with the key he'd collected, but finally managing to get it in the hole and turn it, pushing the door open and running through. The path on the other side lead to the right, to a set of stairs leading downward.

“Yuugi...?”

Yuugi paused, clutching his bag strap in a death grip. Fear churned in his stomach as he turned to see Ryou stepping into the hallway behind him, palette knife still clutched in his hand, dripping with paint, _god Yuugi hoped that was paint!_

“What are you doing, Yuugi...?” Ryou asked, giving Yuugi a sad smile. “We're friends, right? You're not leaving me, right?” Yuugi swallowed as Ryou's face shifted to a pained grimace. “Don't leave me...” Yuugi continued to back up, but Ryou kept coming, his face shifting from sad to angry. “Don't leave...” Ryou's voice was a growl, and he lunged forward, raising his knife, causing Yuugi to fall backwards against the wall, just at the top of the stairs. “ _ **DON'T LEAVE!!!**_ ”

A yell of fury joined in with Ryou's screech. Yuugi was frozen to the spot as he watched a sudden figure barrel past from the stairs. Yuugi could just see Ryou as he hit the wall, his head slamming against it with a sickening thud. He watched as Ryou slumped to the ground, knife clattering out of his limp hand, and his blue rose fluttering down on his other side.

Numbness had settled in Yuugi's blood, and he gasped for air, the clear sensation of panic slowly coursing through his system with every painful beat of his heart.

“Yuugi!”

His head snapped up, and Atem's concerned face stared back at him.

“Are you okay?!” Atem asked, taking Yuugi's hand in his own and squeezing tightly. “I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner, I came as fast as I could,” Atem was clearly gushing at this point out of worry. “There was this stupid doll that kept messing with me, and even more of them tried to lock me in a room, and then it took me forever to find this staircase once I got them to leave me alone, and then I saw you and Ryou and I just-”

His rambling was caught off when Yuugi lunged forward, rapping his arms around his torso and burying his head in Atem's chest. Yuugi could feel tears stinging his eyes.

“Thank you...” Yuugi choked out, “I thought he was going to kill me...”

Atem was frozen for a moment, then he slowly returned Yuugi's embrace. “It's all right,” Atem responded, his tone soft. “I'm just glad I got here in time.”

Yuugi pulled away, taking a few deep breaths as Atem looked back to Ryou's unconscious form.

“He's a painting,” Atem said, and Yuugi felt his heart sink. “I found him in one of the books about Pegasus's work.” Atem approached Ryou carefully, but it seemed he was out cold.

Kneeling down, Atem took Ryou's rose, spinning it between his fingers. “He really had us fooled...” Atem muttered. “But even his rose is fake.” Scoffing, Atem threw the rose back to the ground, standing back up and reaching out to help Yuugi to his feet.

“Are you all right?” Atem asked. “Do you need to rest?”

“No, no, I'm fine,” Yuugi said, glancing down at Ryou. “Let's just hurry and get as far away from him as we can.”

Yuugi lead Atem to the room where the mannequin had been guarding the stairs. As Yuugi had expected, Atem managed to push it aside with no problem, and the image of Atem from before was even more prominent in his mind. Yuugi did his best to ignore it.

They both looked down the staircase. No matter how hard they looked, there didn't seem to be a bottom in sight.

Yuugi could hear Atem swallow nervously beside him, then take a deep breath.

“Well...” Atem reached out a hand, clearly trying to put on a brave face. “Shall we...?”

Yuugi looked down the stairs, that ever-present dread still weighing in his mind. He took a deep breath, and placed his hand in Atem's.

“I guess.” Yuugi replied.

They started their decent, hand-in-hand, keeping their pace quick in case their mess they'd left behind came back to haunt them.

Yuugi looked head, down into the darkness, trying to see an end to the stairs.

Yuugi and Atem both paused at the same time, looking ahead with wide eyes.

They stood on the last stair before a very sudden change in scenery. Ahead of them, the walls, stairs, everything looked as if it had been sketched with coloured pencils on a black background.

Yuugi and Atem glanced at each other, but they had no choice but to move forward. The continued on, hesitation and discretion in every step.

A strange noise made Yuugi turn, and he pulled Atem back. “Watch out!”

A crudely sketched shooting star shot past them, a sound like that of a small airplane filling their ears as it missed Atem's nose by mere inches.

“What is this place?” Atem squeaked, panic clear in his voice.

Yuugi didn't know how to answer, but just below he saw the stairs came to an abrupt end, leading to a black void where he could see a path sketched out ahead. A sign, hastily coloured white, as if drawn by an inexperienced artist, sat on the edge of the road.

Yuugi let go of Atem, pacing down the last few steps and looking at the signpost. An arrow pointed down the road, and in soft, curvy handwriting, it read _To the Sketchbook_.

“The Sketchbook...?” Atem muttered. “Whose? Pegasus's?”

“I don't know...” Yuugi responded. “But we don't really have anywhere else we can go at this point.”

Atem groaned, but followed when Yuugi set off down the path.

They walked on, all around them bizarre drawings floating in the air around them. Flowers, crude faces, stars and other various shapes. They didn't move, but they unnerved Yuugi.

Ahead of them, a line of sketchy trees made a small grove, the path cutting through them. Most of the trees were bare, their scribbled branches reaching up like curling fingers. Passing through them, Yuugi stopped on the other side.

“Is this... a town?” Atem asked.

Several buildings, all drawn in the same way as the other things, some looking like they'd been drawn in pencil, others coloured in with what looked to be crayon, now stood before them, the path continuing forward as well as turning off to lead down another street to their right. Yuugi could count six buildings in total, and he thought he could make out a pond down the side path.

“I... I guess it is...” Yuugi said, taking a couple steps forward. “It's so weird, though... Did someone... draw all of this?” He continued forward, walking towards the first building, what looked to be a small house, the lines that made up it's walls crooked and uneven.

Opening the door, the peeked inside. It was a single room, with a small table, a bookshelf, and a picture hanging on the wall. What looked to be a small basket filled with bananas was placed on the table. Everything looked like it had been doodled with a crayon.

“This is too weird,” Atem said from behind him, backing away from the door. Yuugi shut it, not even bothering to go in.

“Yeah, but I guess we ought'a explore this place...” Yuugi stated, the reluctant clear in his voice. Despite everything he'd been through, this strange “sketchbook” was making him more uneasy than anything he'd encountered. “It's... probably best to keep moving forward.”

Atem hummed in agreement, though the look on his face showed he'd most likely rather be anywhere but here.

The town was small, an set up in a grid, like a tic-tac-toe board. They found several buildings locked, including a long, windowless building with only a single door and no other features. Another seemed to have its door encased in... what they could only guess was ice. Just in front of this building was a drawing of the sun, and a small ray of light had been scribbled shining down from it. Walking past it, Yuugi was surprised to find it was warm.

Atem stepped into it, his face relaxing ever so slightly. Yuugi hesitated, but joined him after a moment.

“That feels nice,” Atem muttered, dropping down to sit cross-legged on the ground.

“We should keep moving...” Yuugi said, paranoia making his skin crawl.

“Just for a second,” Atem said with a grin, patting the ground beside him. “There's no immediate sign of danger, we should rest while we can.”

Yuugi felt reluctant, but he supposed Atem was right. Easing himself down, he allowed himself to feel the strange warm of the fake sun, trying to relax.

“Makes me miss the real sun...” Atem said softly, his eyes closed.

“We'll see it again,” Yuugi responded, trying to sound optimistic.

“Yeah.” Atem said, opening his eyes and looking over to Yuugi. “We'll see it... together, hopefully.”

“What's that mean?” Yuugi asked, voice lined with a chuckle.

“Just... uh...” Atem fidgeted, making Yuugi raise his eyebrow. “Well... sitting in the sun like this... reminds me of a cafe I like to visit. They have these nice little tables where you can sit outside on nice days. They have amazing macrons.” Atem leaned forward. “Have you ever had macrons?”

Yuugi shook his head. “No, I haven't.”

“Oh, they're delicious!” Atem smiled brightly, and Yuugi couldn't help but smile, too. “They're like... little hamburgers, but sweet and fluffy!”

Yuugi laughed at that description. “Well, I do like hamburgers. I'll have to try them at some point.”

“Yeah, you should! You should check out the cafe. I go there all the time, usually by myself...” Atem paused, glancing up at the drawing of the sun, bright against the black landscape around them. “I do a lot of things by myself... You came to the gallery with your friends, right?”  
  
“Yeah,” Yuugi replied. “My friend Téa suggested seeing the exhibit.” Yuugi lifted his knees, bringing them to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. “I... haven't really been... feeling well, lately. Y'know, nothing really seems to... interest me.” Yuugi rubbed a thumb along the back of his hand. “Like... I was in some kind of... stupor I couldn't snap myself out of. I usually love doing games and puzzles, and going out with my friends. But recently I...” He shrugged. “I just haven't really had the energy. I think Téa hoped the gallery would lift my spirits.”

“Did it?” Atem asked.

“Well... maybe it would have if all,” Yuugi gestured around them, “ _this_ didn't happen.”

Atem let out a huff of laughter. “Yeah, I can see this putting a damper on your already cloudy mood.”

Yuugi nodded. “So... you came to the exhibit alone?”

“Oh, yeah...” Atem rubbed the back of his head. “Not really because I want to. I just... don't really interact with a lot of people. The only other person I ever do anything with is my cousin and he's... less than favourable company.” Atem paused when Yuugi laughed, then took a small breath, ruffling his hair a bit.

“So I was... maybe... wondering if... once we get out of here... if you, you know, want to try those macrons, maybe we could...”

Yuugi felt confused, then suddenly felt his heart skip. “Are...” Yuugi voice was pitched, and he felt a lump in his throat. “Are you asking me out...?”

“I mean... is that weird?” Atem's face was flushed with embarrassment. “Like, we're sitting here in this crazy place and I, I mean, like, feel free to say no, I get it, this is horrible timing and I-!”

Atem's panic was brought to a stop when he heard Yuugi laughing. The absurdity of the situation fell down on both of them, and they both succumbed to a fit of giggles.

“I-I'm sorry!” Yuugi coughed out, wiping tears from his eyes. “It's just... so- so much has happened, and the last thing I expected was, well...” He sputtered out, a last round of laughter shaking his chest. Then he took a few deep breaths, steadying himself.

“No, _I'm_ sorry. It was weird, I should have waited,” Atem had brought himself down from his laughing fit, standing up and dusting himself off. Yuugi lifted himself up, shaking his head.

“No, no, it's okay.” Yuugi smiled. “It made me feel better. Like... I feel... a lot better.” He stepped out of the faux sunlight, surprised at just how intense the temperature difference was outside of it, then turned back to Atem. “So... it's a date?”

 Atem looked up at him, surprise evident on his face. “Huh?”

“We're going to get out of here, and you're going to take me to this cafe.” Yuugi stated. “It's a date.”

Atem looked flustered for a moment, then smiled. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, absolutely!”

“All right, then,” Yuugi turned, trying to ignore the fluttering in his stomach and the burning beneath the freckles on his cheeks. “There's another house right down this way,” He called, pointing down the path that lead through the middle of the small town.

They both hesitated outside the door to the house, just as scribbled and sloppily drawn as all the other things around them. Yuugi pushed the door open, glancing inside and walking in slowly.

There was only a round brown table and a small dresser in this room, a basket of what appeared to be uncoloured apples resting on the table's crosshatched surface. Yuugi looked around, spotting another door frame on the other end of the room.

Glancing down, he saw this door lead to another half of the house. It was a smaller room, with only a small dresser on the opposite wall. Yuugi walked over to search it, Atem by his side, only finding the top drawer would open. Inside was a small key that looked like it'd been drawn in pencil, even looking slightly smudged.

Yuugi picked it up, turning back to Atem. “All right, this has to go to one of the locked buildings. Let's go see-”

Yuugi stopped, and he saw Atem go rigid. The sound of the front door to the house opening had caught both their attention.

Yuugi didn't breath, his heart in his throat as he listened to the sound of footsteps on the other side of the wall.

“Yuugi...?” A familiar voice cut through the silence, and it sent chills racing up Yuugi's spine. “Atem? Are you in here?” He heard the voice huff in irritation. “Where'd you guys go...?!”

The footsteps started again, and they heard the sound of the door closing.

Neither of them dared to move. They stood, looking each other in the eye, until Yuugi could see Atem steel himself and turn, moving slowly to the doorway to the other room. Yuugi watched, horror sending vibrations through him, as Atem did his best to peek around the corner as scarcely as possible.

When he saw Atem relax, Yuugi let out the breath he didn't even know had been paining his lungs.

But the horror still turned his blood cold, and when Atem turned back to him, he saw the same fear swimming in his eyes.

Ryou was after them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks so much for your patience, and for reading! i hope you managed to enjoy... at least a little of that.
> 
> stay turnt for the final installment, coming hopefully soon. i won't promise that it'll be soon, because y'all know me by now. but i swear i'm gonna work on it! 
> 
> also do y'all like how i use the english dub names then make the story based in japan? kind of? vaguely suggesting that they're not in america??? lmao i'm the worst sorry about that, im just used to the english dub names and it's too late to go back and change them u _ u;;;
> 
> tho fun fact, i headcanon joey as being half american, so there ya go.


	6. Promise of Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all i'll say here is i'm sorry.  
> see you at the end of the chapter. :')))

Yuugi and Atem had found a couple more buildings, now treading lightly, sense on high alert for their stalker. One building in the middle of the area had a sign pinned to its wall.

 

_There's a key in the toybox._

 

They then found another building, conveniently labeled “Toy Box”, only to find it was inconveniently locked.

The entire area was filled with strange little hints and puzzles. Yuugi had found a key by taking a bucket filled with water and dripping it on a tulip, which opened to reveal the key laying inside. Everything they interacted with looked as if it had been sketched with a pencil by an inexperienced artist.

“I thought there was no way this place would get any weirder,” Atem muttered as Yuugi turned the key over in his hand.

“Nothing's ever impossible. Not here, anyway,” Yuugi responded, glancing down the scrawled-out street. “I think this key goes to that building down there. Its the same colour as the walls.”

Yuugi lead the way down to the long, windowless building they had found earlier. Yuugi slipped the key into one of the doors with ease, but hesitated when the click of it unlocking sounded. He pressed his ear up against the door, closing his eyes and listening closely.

They'd been wandering around the area for about half an hour since they'd found out Ryou had been following them, but hadn't seen any sign of him since his first appearance. However, Yuugi didn't want to take any chances, so he listened hard for any sound of movement behind the door.

When he felt he'd waited long enough, he slowly pushed the door open, it's sketched hinges creaking ever-so-lightly.

Inside was a single long, thin room, empty, save for a single box situated in the middle of the wall on the floor. This was the first thing Yuugi noticed, and he started inching towards it, when he felt Atem's hand on his shoulder.

Turning, he saw Atem's eyes fixed on the wall opposite the door. Yuugi followed his gaze, his heart dropping.

Sketched out on the rough-looking wall was a large portrait. Eyes, violet and wide, stared back at Yuugi from the crudely-drawn reflection of his own face, right down to little splatters of freckles arching over the bridge of his nose. It looked as though the drawing of himself was reaching for his purple rose, which had a single petal floating down from its blossom.

“Come on,” Yuugi whispered, trying his best to tear his eyes away from the picture, taking Atem's hand and pulling him towards the box.

The wall became harder to ignore, however, when words had been written out just above the box. _Pandora's box._ An arrow had been drawn below the words, pointing down to what now looked like just a simple box with a hinged lid.

“I'm glad this place just throws these kinds of things at us,” Yuugi muttered, leaning down to inspect the box closely, as if his dungeons and dragons rogue training could honestly help him detect any sort of trap. “Sure, let me just open a mysterious box, sitting in the middle of what could be the biggest death trap I've ever found myself in! Sounds like a great idea!”

“You're really going to open it?” Atem asked from behind him, hugging himself as though he needed to physically hold himself together.

“I don't really have a choice,” Yuugi responded. “I've found you really have to go against a lot of survival instincts in this place.”

Taking a deep breath, Yuugi lifted the lid of the box slowly, only for his hand to be smacked away as it forced itself open. Streaks of colour flew from inside; spots of green, orange, yellow, blue, brown, red, pink, were hovering around them. Yuugi only vaguely caught a glimpse of them before they were gone, racing from the building in different directions.

“What the hell was that?!” Atem wheezed out, pressed up against the wall.

“Another stupid puzzle setting itself up, no doubt.” Yuugi's voice was thick with exasperation as he lifted himself up from his kneeling position. As he dusted off his pants, a glimmer in the bottom of the box caught his eye.

“Is that a mirror?” Yuugi leaned down, grabbing it and bringing it to his face. Sure enough, his own face stared back at him from the pocket-sized, ornate-looking mirror.

“Yuugi, let's get out of here,” Atem muttered quietly, inching his way back towards the door, his eyes looking towards the other end of the room.

Yuugi looked over as well, backing up with Atem and taking his hand. Another portrait was drawn on the wall on the opposite end from them; the rowan-coloured eyes and bright red rose grasped in the fingers were a giveaway of who this portrait was supposed to be. However, it was the noose around the sketch of Atem's neck that made it so unsettling.

Trying to erase the image from his mind, Yuugi pushed Atem from the building, closing the door quickly behind them.

Atem was rubbing at his neck, eyes wide as he laughed nervously.

“Come on,” Yuugi encouraged him as best as he could, “We have to keep looking for a way into that toybox. We're close to getting out of here, I can feel it.”

Atem glanced at Yuugi's face, his eyes seeming to relax before they glanced just behind him, his eyebrows furrowing. “What's that? On the wall?”

Yuugi feared there were more macabre drawings, but turned to see there was just a small green spiral painted on the wall of the building.

“I'm not sure...” Yuugi responded, looking down to the mirror still clutched in his hand. “Maybe one of those things that shot out from the box? There might be more around here...”

Continuing back down the path, Yuugi's theory was proven correct. Looking to the tulip showed it had turned itself into a star shape; a light blue star and a green swirl.

“There's gotta be something to this...” Yuugi said softly, pulling out his small notebook and pen and scribbling down the two symbols they'd seen. “Let's keep going.

Following the path lead them to a group of scribbled trees. When they'd first arrived, the trees had been barren, but now it looked as if someone had taken a green coloured pencil and drawn leaves, as well as put little round fruit, a different kind of every tree.

“Yuugi, look there,” Atem pointed to one of the trees. It looked like it was bearing oranges, but a single red fruit stood out among them, brighter than any of the other fruit on the trees.

“A red apple.”

Continuing on, the came back to the pond were Yuugi had gotten water for the tulip. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but as Yuugi looked into the strangely-textured water, a flash caused ripples on its surface, and a bright yellow crescent moon was suddenly reflected in the water. Looking up, Yuugi couldn't see any moon, but in the water it was clear and bright.

Turning left of the pond, they also managed to find a pink heart splattered on the door of the toy box building, and at the end of the path was the little orange sun they had sat under earlier.

Turning again, they came across a small fenced off section. It had been empty earlier, but now a few butterflies had been drawn into existence. They fluttered around, their little yellow wings lifting them just above the ground lazily.

Atem pointed to one, drifting alone in the corner.

“It's wings are orange.” he said.

Yuugi narrowed his eyes, trying to see the wings of the butterfly a little better. They had already found an orange symbol, so what was this butterfly supposed to be?

Yuugi was just about to dismiss it and move on, when the orange butterfly tilted at just the right angle, and he could make out a pattern on its wings. The pattern of a brown eye.

Writing it down, they made their way down to the last section, one on the opposite end of the building where they'd found the box. Yuugi was looking down at his notes, trying to piece these symbols together. He could hear Atem shuffling around, looking for any other symbols. As Yuugi glanced up to help him, he stopped, a hanging figure in the shadows just beyond the path catching his eye.

Taking a couple of steps forward, Yuugi felt a lump form in his throat. It was shabby, poorly made and stitched together with an obviously armature hand, but it wasn't hard to recognise. The same clothes, the same hair, the same rose dangling from its fingerless hand.

A stuffed doll of Yuugi hung just before him off the path, its head drooping over a bright blue noose that stretched up and into the darkness. Yuugi was transfixed, the sinister image burned into his mind even when he closed his eyes and tried to look away.

“Yuugi?” Atem's voice broke through his horror. Coming up beside him, Atem looked out into the darkness, his eyes widening.

“Look!” Atem was pointing, but not to the doll. Just beyond the dangling figure was what looked like a roughly drawn cat's head, dark blue and hard to spot against the black backdrop.

“That must be another one of the symbols.” Atem said, looking to Yuugi, who stared back at him in disbelief. Atem's expression turned to concern. “Is something wrong?”

“You...” Yuugi's voice broke, and he rubbed at one of his eyes, blinking back at the doll. It wasn't a hallucination; no matter what he did, the image remained. “You don't... see anything else over there?”

Atem's forehead creased as he turned to look back towards the doll. He concentrated for a long time before he shook his head. “No, I don't... do you see something else?”

Yuugi looked back to the hanged doll, swallowing at the dryness in his mouth. “N... No, I don't, either. My... eyes must be playing tricks on me.” He looked away, writing down the blue cat head and walking away from the sinister sign.

They continued to search, still keeping a close watch for any sign of Ryou, but no other symbols revealed themselves.

They found themselves back in the small patch of fake sunlight. The warmth suck into Yuugi's skin as he looked over the notes he'd taken, his hand over his mouth as he thought. Atem stood a little ways away, looking over the strange building whose door was encased in ice.

In ice...

A sudden idea came to Yuugi. He glanced up to the sun scrawled on the black background of this area. Though it emitted no real light, it did exude warmth. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the mirror he'd found earlier, turning it over and inspecting it. He glanced from it, to the sun, wondering...

“Hey, Atem...” Yuugi called, stepping out of the warm spot. “Could you move away from the door for a second?”

Atem looked back to him, stepping out of the way as Yuugi bent down, placing the mirror on the small warm spot.

For a second Yuugi thought his idea had been silly, but then a small beam of orange fell from the sun, hitting the mirror and bouncing off, hitting the door and melting the ice away.

Atem's eyes were wide. “Oh... The mirror reflected the light and melted the ice! Amazing!” Atem trotted over to Yuugi, a look of awe on his face. “I wouldn't think to do that! You're pretty smart.”

Yuugi felt his face grow warm at Atem's compliment. “Oh, nah...” He responded with an embarrassed chuckle. “It was a crazy idea, I'm just lucky it worked.”

Yuugi moved forward, listening to the door like he did before, then slowly entering when the coast was clear.

This building also only had one room, much smaller than the one before. On the wall opposite the door, a strange diagram was scribbled out. Yuugi immediately recognised the symbols they had gathered; they had been placed in specific order. First the word “Start”, then the pink heart the brown eye, the yellow moon, the orange sun, the light blue star, the green spiral, the red apple, and finally the blue cat.

“Look down on the floor,” Atem said. Yuugi looked to see another diagram drawn out on the ground; a square, all the corners plus the middles of the sides adorned with buttons. The middle was empty.

Yuugi looked back and forth from the pattern on the floor to the one on the wall, looking to his notes and tapping his pen to his lips.

His eyebrows furrowing, a thought came to him.

“Where were each of these symbols?” Yuugi asked. He drew out a square on his paper, putting a dot in the same places the square on the floor had buttons. “This area is set up in a square like this; where did we find each of the symbols?”

Atem came up to look over his shoulder. He pointed to the upper left corner. “Well, this is where the sun is.” Yuugi labeled the corner as such, moving to the upper right corner.

“The moon was here,” Yuugi said, then went down to the lower left corner. “And this was the cat.”

“The heart as here,” Atem said, tapping the point in the middle of the top of the square, “And that butterfly with the eye on it was over here, the middle left.”

“The apple was in the middle right...” Yuugi said softly, “The star was in the... lower right, yeah?”

“And I guess the swirl was here, in the middle bottom.” Atem finished the labeling, then he glanced to the square on the floor. “Oh... Oh!”

“We have to hit the buttons in a certain order,” Yuugi said, pointing to the drawings on the wall. “ _This_ order. So...” He looked down to his notes, walking to the upper middle button of the square on the floor. “The pink heart is first...” He took his foot, slowly depressing the button and waiting. When nothing happened, he looked up. The eye was next.

Yuugi went around the square, pressing every button carefully in the given order. The eye in the middle left; the moon in the upper right; the sun in the upper left; the star in the lower right; the swirl in the bottom middle; the apple in the middle right; and, finally, the blue cat in the lower left.

Each button clicked softly as Yuugi stepped down on them. Yuugi would brace himself every time, expecting himself to get something wrong and bring some sort of punishment, but none came. His heart raced as he pressed the final button, a sudden flash in the middle of the square making him jump; a key now sat in the centre.

“That was incredible!” Atem said, trotting over to grab the key, his smile bright. “You figured it out so quickly! I like to think I'm pretty good at solving puzzles like this, but that was pretty impressive.”

Yuugi flushed again, bending his notebook a bit as he rocked. “Oh, uh, it really isn't anything. You probably could have figured it out just as easily. I just... I'm not very good at anything besides games or puzzles, so I... have a lot of practice, I guess.”

Atem scoffed. “I highly doubt you're no good at anything else, but really, give yourself some credit!” He wiggled the key at Yuugi. “You found us the key; I bet this goes to the building that toy box is in!”

They made their way back to the building in the upper middle part of the area; it's door was still splashed with the pink heart. Yuugi did his check to see if anyone was inside, and when he heard nothing, he stepped back to let Atem unlock the door. Something didn't seem right; it had been so long since they'd seen Ryou, but this place wasn't very big. Where had Ryou gone...?  
He didn't have a lot of time to think; Atem had pushed the door open and entered the building. Yuugi followed behind.

Another single, white room greeted them, and ahead of them was a staircase. Crossing the room, the bottom of the steps was blocked by a large, simple-looking box.

“Is this the toy box?” Atem said, leaning over the edge to look inside. “It's kind of big... There's supposed to be a key in there right?”

Yuugi leaned forward to peer inside as well. The inside of the box looked dark, as if it had been coloured in with a dark marker. Yuugi couldn't make out the bottom.

“Is there really a key in there...?” Yuugi asked, leaning away from the box a bit.

“Would you like to see?”

The voice made Yuugi freeze. He felt Atem turn rigid at his side.

Before either of them could turn, Yuugi felt something shove him roughly between his shoulder blades, sending him stumbling forward. His legs hit the side of the toy box, and he flipped inside. He expected to feel himself hit the bottom fast and hard, but darkness shrouded his vision, and he continued to fall.

His eyes suddenly felt heavy, his entire body going numb. He tried to call out Atem's name, but he couldn't find the strength. Despite his struggle, Yuugi lost consciousness.

 

-

 

Everything was so dark. Chills passed through his body, a shudder sending shocks of pain to every inch of him. Yuugi had never felt pain like this; it was as if someone had beaten him into the ground without mercy. He couldn't help but wonder if he was dead...

But there shouldn't be this much pain in death... Nor should he be able to feel the cold ground pressed up against his cheek.

It took every ounce of Yuugi's strength to force his eyes open. It didn't really help the darkness situation much, but he could make out a shape a few feet away from him, and spots of different colours on the ground below him.

Yuugi made to lift himself, but his arms gave out. Everything hurt, and nothing wanted to listen to him. He wanted to continue to lay, maybe pass out again, but Atem's face flashed in his mind. If he felt this bad, he needed to find Atem and make sure he was okay.

Mustering up every nerve, every speck of stubbornness he had, Yuugi pushed himself from the ground. His arms trembled, but he managed to get himself into a kneeling position, panting with effort. He coughed, his throat rough and sore, and he tried to pretend the shining spots of red just below him had been there before. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he lifted himself to his feet, glancing around to try and take in his surroundings.

The shape he'd seen turned out to be a small, strange-looking doll with a mane of crazy black hair and disturbing red eyes. Looking around, he could see a few more scattered around, as well as the white mannequin heads and the black statues with their colourful dresses. The walls and floors were covered in what looked like rushed doodles of everything from cats to clowns.

Yuugi spotted a small speck of purple just a ways away from him. Panic surging through him, he quickly opened his messenger bag; his rose was nowhere to be found.

“Well...” Yuugi's voice was rough, and his lungs ached as he sighed. “That explains some things...” Thinking, he shook his head. “It doesn't matter... I have to find Atem...”

He forced himself to walk, his legs screaming in protest. As he moved, more dolls and mannequins came into view. Yuugi couldn't help but feel he was outnumbered.

The room didn't seem to be too big, however. He looked around, his vision blurry, but he just made out a figure laying on the floor that was different from the rest.

Running forward, Yuugi knelt down, gently shaking Atem, dread turning his blood cold.

“Atem... Atem wake up, come on...”

Relief flooded through Yuugi when he heard Atem groan. Atem pushed himself up with what seemed to be more ease than Yuugi did before, so he must be all right.

“Ugh,” Atem moaned, holding his face in one hand. “I must've hit my head... Yuugi?”

Atem glanced up, his look of relief quickly turning to worry. “You're hurt.”

“I'm fine,” Yuugi lied, trying his best to ignore the pain rocketing through his legs as he helped Atem to his feet.

“You're not,” Atem replied sternly, brushing a lock of Yuugi's bangs from his face. “You've got bruises all over you! Where's your rose?”

Yuugi bit his lip. “I... I didn't have it... when I woke up...”

“What? You lost it?!” Atem glanced around. “Here, lean on me, we'll find it!”

“I don't need to-” Yuugi's sentence was cut of by a click of Atem's tongue as he placed his hand in the middle of Yuugi's back, letting Yuugi put as much weight on him as needed. Yuugi felt himself warm up despite the chill in the room.

Atem lead Yuugi forward, his eyes squinting through the darkness as he scanned the ground; he would occasionally jump when they came across one of the dolls or mannequins, but he would quickly shake off his fright, continuing on.

“... There.” Yuugi spotted a stem in a corner of the room, and Atem trotted over to grab it, returning with an even more anxious look.

“It must have gotten damaged in the fall...” Atem said, handing Yuugi the rose back. Only a few small, bruised petals clung to the stem.

“I didn't see any vases in here...” Atem glanced up. “Did we fall into the toy box? It's huge... But there's got to be a way out.”

Once again letting Yuugi lean on him, they made their way around the toy box. They found what appeared to be an exit, but the way was blocked by a larger pair of the strange dolls with black hair.

“What are those things...?” Yuugi asked. Atem raised an eyebrow.

“What are they? You called them 'cute' earlier!”

“I never called those cute! I've never seen them!” Yuugi glanced back at them as they walked back into the toy box to try and find another way out. “I mean... I don't think they're... _ugly_ , but...”

They continued to wander, but found no other exit. They took a break around where Yuugi had woken up, Yuugi's whole body shaking as he sat down.

“I hate this...” Yuugi breathed. “When I get home I'm sleeping for a month...”

Atem chuckled beside him, then Yuugi felt him shift.

“Hey, look...” Yuugi heard Atem say.

Yuugi opened his eyes to see Atem standing a few feet away, looking over what looked like the drawing of a cat scribbled on the floor in bright pink. Something shined just beside its paw.

“Is that... a key?” Yuugi asked, starting to push himself back to his feet.

Atem leaned down, taking the key in his hand. As soon as he held it in his palm, the room shifted.

Yuugi could feel the drop in temperature; his breath rose up in front of his face in a puff, and the floor trembled beneath his feet.

“Oh, no...” Atem said, stepping over to grab Yuugi's arm. “This is bad... It's just like before.”

“Before...?” Yuugi repeated.

“No time to explain,” Atem's eyes grew wide as he looked over Yuugi's shoulder. Yuugi turned to see one of the black haired dolls crawling towards him. “We have to get out of here!”

Adrenaline rushed through Yuugi, his pain suddenly gone as he dodged around the doll, Atem's iron grip around his hand. The mannequin heads and black statues had started to move as well, all making a beeline for them.

“The exit's clear!” Atem shouted. Yuugi could see ahead of them where the larger dolls had moved aside, clearing a path for them to get out.

Yuugi stumbled as one of the dolls grasped at his ankle, but Atem pulled him up and forward, clearing the exit and climbing a set of stairs up and out.

They didn't look back, only running down a long hallway. Yuugi tripped again, and he barely noticed what it was. A... vine?

Atem pressed on, up a second set of stairs. It was at the top of these that he finally stopped, falling onto his backside and panting heavily. “I'm so... sick... of this place...!”

Yuugi's breathing was rough as well, made harder by the pain that was once again leaking back into his nerves. He leaned against the wall, feeling if he sat down he wouldn't be able to get back up.

Looking around, Yuugi felt recognition click in his mind.

“This is where we came in,” he coughed out, taking a few shaky steps forward. “But... it's different.”

Where the walls had been white, they were now black. The toy box had been removed from in front of the stairs, but now, green vines stretched across them, scribbled out in what looked to be crayon. Blue roses blossomed out from between the thorns.

“The way out is locked,” Atem said from the door, coming to join Yuugi at the vines. “Guess we have to go up...”

Atem reached out to touch the vines. “They... almost feel like... paper.” He said, tugging on one of them. “But I can't tear it.” He pulled his hand away, rubbing his thumb against his index finger as he thought.

Yuugi's head was spinning, but he tried to think as well. He had drifted away into his own mind when a soft noise from Atem snapped him back to reality.

He turned to see Atem had pulled his lighter out from his pocket. He turned it in his hand, then looked to Yuugi.

“Think it could work?” he asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Yuugi responded, stepping back from the vines.

Atem flipped the lighter open, taking a step back and lighting it with a sharp snap. The little flame danced in Atem's hand as he extended his arm.

The fire had hardly brushed against the vines when they ignited, heat flashing against Yuugi and Atem as the fire blazed up the vines, burning them away with ease.

“Well... that's one way to do it, I guess.” Atem laughed, his nervousness apparent as he reached out for Yuugi's hand. “Let's see where this leads.”

Hand in hand, the two of them ascended the stairs, their pace slow from Yuugi's unsteady step. The light was dim as they neared the top, another large room coming into view.

Where they entered was empty, but across the way, items littered the floor. It was hard to make any of them out.

“I think there's something on the wall over there,” Atem said, trying to look through the low light. “It... looks kind of familiar.” He started leading Yuugi forward. “Let's check it out.”

They had only taken a few steps when Yuugi pulled on Atem's hand, signaling for him to stop. Atem looked back to him, curiosity evident on his face.

Yuugi held his finger to his lips, looking back to the stairs; he thought he'd heard something, but he wasn't quite sure...

Then it happened again. The obvious sound of footsteps, just like the ones he'd heard before he'd fallen into the Abyss of the Deep.

They had no time to react before a head of bright silver hair crested over the threshold of the stairs; Ryou paused as soon as he noticed the two of them, and they all stood, frozen, staring each other down.

“What are you doing here...?” Ryou's voice was quiet as he took another step towards them, climbing the final step and standing on even ground. “You aren't supposed to be here...”

“Ryou...” Atem's voice was hoarse, and he pulled Yuugi back away from Ryou.  
“Leave...” Ryou's voice wavered, anger burning in his eyes. “Don't take another step...” He made towards them, Atem pull Yuugi back away farther. “Leave... Leave right now...! _Leave...!”_

Ryou pulled the pallet knife from his pocket, running at them with a roar of fury.

“ _LEAVE!!!”_

Atem grabbed Yuugi, pulling him back towards the opposite end of the room. Panic spread through Yuugi's whole body, another rush of adrenaline pushing out his pain and exhaustion. He stumbled to the wall where the framed painting hung, its empty white background taunting them in their cornered situation. Yuugi barely caught a glimpse of the painting's title.

 

“Ryou”

 

The painting's subject was bearing down on them, face screwed up in rage. Yuugi braced himself, ready to fight with everything he had.

A memory flashed in front of him. A memory of bright letters splattered in red on a wall, warning of the ban of fire starting implements in the gallery. Yuugi glanced down to Atem's hand that still had a white-knuckle grip on his lighter.

“Burn it! Burn the painting!” Yuugi choked out, grabbing Atem's hand and lifting it towards the frame of the piece.

“No!” Ryou cried, Yuugi turning to just catch the fear suddenly shifting his expression.

Atem barely hesitated, his thumb flicking the wheel as if by instinct, the sharp sound of the fire catching almost echoing through the room.

“Yuugi, don't-!”

Ryou's desperate plea was cut off as the fire raced up the frame of the painting, licking at Yuugi and Atem's faces with much more ferocity than expected. As the frame was consumed in the blaze, there was a resounding _crack_ as the glass of the picture started splintering. Atem grabbed Yuugi, sheltering him just as the glass shattered, showering them and the floor in sharp shards.

Yuugi peaked over Atem's arm, his gut clenching at the look of horror Ryou had; it was almost as if he was so pained, no sound would escape from his gaping mouth. Guilt stung at Yuugi's heart, his eyes misting as Ryou's body started to turn black, a blaze racing up his frame and leaving him scorched.

The palette knife clattered to the ground as his form disintegrated into ash.

Atem and Yuugi stood for a moment, rigid in place before Yuugi tugged on Atem's arm. Atem released him without a word, his face blackened in a few places from the intensity of the fire.

Yuugi crept towards the pile of ash on the ground, his heart clenching.

“'I'd like to invite new friends over, and so would everyone else here,'” Atem said from behind him.

“What?” Yuugi turned to see Atem looking at what seemed to be a journal. Atem's expression was sorrowful.

“'But what I'd like more than anything is to leave this place, and make my own friends. But in order to do that, I'd have to replace someone from the outside. When will someone come...?'”

Atem's voice cracked as he slammed the journal shut, placing it back on a pile of books that were stacked next to several canvases with simple, lovely-looking paintings. Yuugi tried to ignore the brightly coloured title of one book, _How to Make Friends._

“He didn't deserve this...” Yuugi whispered, tears stinging his eyes as shame flooded his heart. “This is awful... I- I would have stayed, I would have-!”

“Yuugi...” Atem approached him slowly as a sob choked out Yuugi's words. “Ryou... wasn't human...”

“That doesn't matter!” Yuugi screeched, stepping away from Atem, dropping to his knees by the remains of Ryou. His voice was hushed when he spoke again. “He was still a life... We didn't have the right to do this...”

Atem was quiet as Yuugi sobbed. Atem didn't seem to have anything to reply to Yuugi, but Yuugi was drawn from his stupor by a hiss of pain.

Yuugi turned, wiping at the tears clinging to his eyelashes. Atem stood a little ways away, cradling his left hand in the other. A drop of blood fell from his palm.

“You're hurt...” Yuugi said, standing and walking over to him. A small but deep cut was slashed through Atem's hand, bleeding fairly heavily.

“It's all right,” Atem said, clenching his hand with a wince. “It must have gotten cut when the glass shattered. I'll be fine.”

Yuugi looked to Atem's face; the blond hair of his bangs looked singed, and soot smudged his face. His eyes looked heavily from exhaustion.

Sighing, Yuugi loosened the now tattered and frayed ascot from around his neck, pulling it out. He took Atem's injured hand, pressing the cloth against the cut.

“Hold onto that,” Yuugi croaked, his voice even more hoarse now from crying. Atem took his other hand and started applying pressure as Yuugi had.

“... Thank you.” Atem said, searching Yuugi's face with tired eyes.

Yuugi stared back at him, then gave him the faintest of smiles. Looking back to Ryou's remains, Yuugi felt another pang before he took a deep breath.

“I'll... definitely regret this for the rest of my life...” Yuugi said.

“You and me both...” Atem replied. “But... what else could we have done...?”

Yuugi didn't have an anwer. He just shook his head. “Let's just go...”

Quietly, Yuugi and Atem made their way back down the stairs and out of the toy box building. The world around them felt strangely empty.

The door to the building with the toy box clue written on it opened with ease as Atem turned the pink key. Swinging forward, it revealed another narrow staircase going down, the walls no longer sketched, but solid and black.

“It looks dark,” Atem said, starting to descend. “Watch your step...”

They stepped lightly, Yuugi's soreness returning with a vengeance as they walked lower and lower. Yuugi could just barely make out the steps ahead of them, and he lost track of just how long they'd been going down.

Atem paused in front of him after a while, Yuugi seeing him trying to focus into the darkness ahead.

“I think there's a door...” Atem said, trotting down the stairs ahead of Yuugi. Yuugi heard his footsteps stop, then his voice call from the shadows, “It is a door! Come on!”

Yuugi limped down to join Atem at the foot of the stairs, the black, polished door coming into view. When Yuugi stood next to him, Atem took a deep breath, turned the knob, and let the door swing open.

“Well...” Atem said, leading the way into the room. “This looks familiar...”

Before them, the lobby of the Pegasus exhibit presented itself. Only where the walls had been an almost blinding white, they were now black.

“We made it back...” Yuugi said, stepping forward. “But... it's not quite right...”

“There's still no one here,” Atem said.

They explored the lower floor; all the paintings looked the same, the sculptures all placed in the same was they were before. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“Here's this statue,” Atem said, walking up to look at what seemed to be a sculpture of a large purple rose with a long stem. “This was the one I'd come to see.”

Yuugi looked the rose over; it stood a good head taller than him, and if he hadn't known it was just a statue, he could have convinced himself it was real. Looking over the a placard to the side of the piece, he read outloud,

 

“ _Embodiment of Spirit”_

 

_Beautiful at a glance, but if you_

_get to close, it will induce pain._

_It can only bloom in wholesome bodies._

 

Looking back, Yuugi reached into his bag, pulling out his battered rose and twirling it between his fingers. It can only loom in wholesome bodies...

“Come on,” Atem said, pulling Yuugi from his own thoughts. “Let's see if the upstairs has any clues to a way out.”

Atem had to help Yuugi, but they made their way up to the second floor. That solitary window greeted them at the top of the steps, but the outside was pitch black.

Yuugi spotted the Hanged Man painting, realising this was the first place he'd seen Atem. He couldn't help but laugh.  
“What's funny?” Atem asked.

“Just... this morning, I actually saw you before the whole, ya'know, finding you passed out in the hallway of a crazy haunted art gallery.”

“Really?” Atem looked genuinely surprised. Yuugi nodded.

“You were looking at that painting, there,” Yuugi pointed to the Hanged Man. “I bumped into you, then panicked when I saw how attractive you were-” Yuugi stopped himself, embarrassment clutching at his stomach and flooding his cheeks with warmth, “Oh my god, did I just say that out loud...?”

“Say what?” Atem said, acting like he'd been distracted. “I didn't hear you say anything weird,” His crooked smile gave away Atem's fib, but Yuugi was thankful he was being at least a little spared from his mortification. “But anyway, I should probably learn to pay attention to my surroundings a little more. Otherwise, I miss the change for a potential conversation with a charming someone.”

Heat pricked at Yuugi's cheeks again, but he just laughed as Atem continued to lead them through the upper floor of the gallery.

They had just turned a corner when something caught Yuugi's eye; a hallway, long and dimly lit, empty, save for a single landscape oriented painting.

“Atem,” Yuugi tugged Atem's hand, pulling him towards the hallway. “This way,”

 _Déjà vu_ send a chill down Yuugi's spine as they approached the painting. Looking it over, Yuugi was sure this was the painting he'd seen just before things had started to get strange. When he looked at it, however, something didn't seem quite right...

It still had the same crayon-like texture, but now, where the background had been black, it was white and grey. Figures of what looked to be crudely-drawn people spotted the painting, and picture frames had been crookedly sketched on the walls. Looking down, Yuugi read the plaque beneath the painting's frame.

 

“ _Fabricated World”_

_Once you go in, there is no going back._

_All your time here will be lost._

_Will you still jump in...?_

 

“Fabricated World...” Atem looked from the label to the painting itself, forehead creasing. “Jump in...? What does that mean?”

As if an answer, a sudden flash of light made Yuugi squeeze his eyes shut. When he looked back, he blinked away the bright ball of light swimming in his vision and saw the frame of the painting had disappeared.

Reaching out a hand, Yuugi gently touched the painting's surface. It seemed to ripple, like the surface of water disturbed by a small pebble.

“Jump in...” Atem muttered beside him, “I wonder...” Glancing back, Atem took a few steps back, took a deep breath, then sprinted forward, taking a huge leap.

“Atem-!” Yuugi called, but stopped when he watched as Atem slid seamlessly into the painting's surface. He could see Atem glancing around, looking as if he'd just jumped through a window onto a ledge. His form had taken on the same crayon-like quality.

“It worked!” Atem's voice sounded strange, as if he was speaking through a layer of water. Turning back, he smiled widely at Yuugi. “I'm in! Yuugi, take my hand!” Atem extended his hand out, crossing through the threshold of the painting.

Yuugi started to reach out, when the sound of footsteps caught his attention.

“Yuugi, there you are!”

Yuugi whipped around, watching as Téa trotted down the hallway towards him.

“I've been looking for you everywhere!” Téa's eyes were bright, her smile wide. “We shouldn't split up like that again!”

“Yuugi?” Atem called to him from the painting. Yuugi glanced back to him. “Come on, just take my hand, I promise it's safe!”

“Come on Yuugi, Joey and Tristan are waiting, too,” Téa said, reaching her hand out towards him. “You trust your friend over some stranger, right?”

“You'll be fine, Yuugi,” Atem said, his smile sincere. “Take my hand!”

“Come with me, Yuugi!” Téa said, almost stern.

“Yuugi!” Two voices echoed his name, and Yuugi's chest was tight with panic. Closing his eyes, Yuugi turned, clasping Atem's with his own, not trusting anything this place was throwing at him.

“Yes!” Atem cheered, tugging Yuugi up and into the interior of the painting.

…

Yuugi blinked... or did the lights flicker?

Dots danced in front of Yuugi's eyes, and he rubbed at his eyes as he looked around. He stood in the hallway he had entered to get away from the crowd, but he couldn't really remember what he'd been doing down here. He could hear the chatter of people at both ends of the hallway, sending echoes down towards him.

He barely glanced at the lone painting in this hallway as he trotted back towards the main floor of the Pegasus exhibit.

Stepping onto the main floor, he glanced behind him, looking back at the young girl who was looking at the painting of a black cat with her mother just behind him. He couldn't help but wonder why he was surprised to see them so close; he'd just been looking at that painting as well and had just walked away from it a second ago...

Weaving his way through the throng of people, Yuugi trotted down the stairs to the first floor. He wanted to find his friends; for some reason, he felt dizzy, and wanted to step outside for just a moment, but he probably should let them know so he didn't just disappear.

He spotted them looking at a painting of a faceless red mother in a scolding position over a faceless blue child who was poised in front of disembodied piano keys. Yuugi made to approach them, but a sudden strange feeling made him pause.

Turning, Yuugi saw an empty corner just down the way. Dodging around a few more people, he stepped towards the sculpture of a tall purple rose. Something about this piece pulled him closer to where he almost leaned over the dividing velvet rope. His heart clenched, and an unexplained feeling of sadness overtook him.

A sudden shift of movement from beside him caused him to jump. Turning he saw someone he didn't recognise standing just a little bit away from him. The stranger was looking up to the rose, an unidentifiable emotion on his face.

Yuugi felt a surge of panic flow through him when the stranger turned his eyes towards him, noticing his staring.

“Oh, sorry,” the stranger said, giving Yuugi a smile. His almost crimson-coloured eyes sparkled, the sun-kissed skin over his nose crinkled in a way that made Yuugi's heart to jump. “I didn't mean to get so close to you,”

“N-No, it's okay...” Yuugi stuttered out, surprised at how easily he was able to speak to this... beyond gorgeous person. He felt a strange comfort in his presence. “I just wasn't really paying attention to anything around me,” He looked back to the rose statue. “I was kind of... mesmerized by this statue for some reason.”

“You, too?” The stranger asked, laughing. “I thought I was the only one... I can't help but feel sort of... sad... when I look at it...” He was quiet for a moment, before he shook his head. “Sorry, that sounded kind of weird, huh, Yuugi?”

Yuugi's brow furrowed, and he could see his own surprise mirrored on this man's face.

“Wait... who's Yuugi...?” the man said softly, seemingly mostly to himself.

“Uh, me,” The stranger turned to look at him with a look of shock. “My name is Yuugi,”

“You...?” The man looked down, his face screwed up in confusion. “But... how did I know your name... We... We've never met...” He looked up, a strange expression easing onto his face. “But... wait... haven't we met?”

“I, uh...” Another spell of dizziness had hit Yuugi, making Yuugi hold onto his forehead, trying to steady his thoughts. “I don't think so? But...” Looking up, Yuugi could swear this person's face was... there, somewhere in his memories. “... maybe...?”

They stood in silence, looking at each other, Yuugi's own heartbeat loud in his ears.

This spell between them shattered when the stranger coughed into his hand awkwardly, a nervous laugh escaping him.

“W-Well, maybe we've just met somewhere in our dreams, huh?” The man tried to cover his odd words with a wink, and Yuugi gave him a smile.

“Y-Yeah...” Yuugi said, laughing at the flirty line. “Maybe that's it...”

Another beat of silence passed between them before the stranger took a step away, looking like he had to tear his gaze from Yuugi's face.

“Sorry to bother you,” he said as he waved in farewell.

Yuugi watched him walk away, trying to fight this overwhelming, inexplicable urge to call out to this absolute stranger, when the man paused as he stuck his hands in the pocket of his jacket.

“What's this...?” He pulled out a piece of fabric, dark purple and stained. Yuugi recognised it and trotted up to him.

“That's mine!” Yuugi exclaimed, taking a corner of the cloth in one hand while he rubbed at his neck with the other. “This is the ascot I was wearing earlier... I didn't even notice I didn't have it on...”

The stranger stared at him with wide eyes, clutching the ascot tightly. “Yours... But how did I...?”

Suddenly, a memory flashed in Yuugi's mind. A memory of blood, dripping from a palm.

“I...” the man stuttered, looking into Yuugi's eyes. “I... cut my hand... on the glass... and he... my partner, he gave me this ascot...” Recognition sparked in Atem's eyes just as Yuugi's mind was flooded with lost memories. “My partner though that horrible gallery, Yuugi!”

With a shout of elation, Atem grabbed Yuugi around the waist, lifting him up off the ground and twirling him.

“Atem, come on!” Yuugi said, laughing and patting at Atem's arm. “People are staring!”

Atem stopped, letting Yuugi slip back to the ground, but he didn't let him go.

“Atem-?” Yuugi started, but he was cut off when Atem was suddenly kissing him.

His mind didn't register what was happening for a moment, but suddenly, Yuugi felt like his whole body had filled with magma, his heart rocketing into his throat as he pulled away, stuttering.

“A-Atem y-you can't just- just like that!”

Atem released him. “I-I'm sorry!” Atem said, “I got a little full of myself there! But... I'm just so relieved.” Atem gave Yuugi a blindly bright smile. “We made it out...”

Yuugi huffed with insincere agitation, smiling back. “We did...”

“I can't believe we really did it...!” Atem laughed. “We made it out past those crazy monsters, and puzzles, and Ryou-!” Atem paused, the look on his face matching the pang of guilt that sliced through Yuugi.

“I... I wish there was something we could have done for him...” Yuugi said quietly. Atem nodded, hesitantly reaching out and giving Yuugi's hand a gentle squeeze. Yuugi let himself smile again, “But we made it... I might be having nightmares for a while, but I don't think anything can top what we've been through.”

Atem nodded, then looked at the watch on his wrist, worry crossing his expression.

“I'd really like to stay, we've got so much more to talk about, but I have to go,” Atem said. He looked like he was going to hand Yuugi his ascot back, but he smiled. “Let me hang onto this, okay? I think I should clean the, erm... blood off of it somehow before I return it.”

Yuugi chuckled, nodding. “Sure. And besides that, you still owe me a cafe date and macarons.” Digging into his messenger bag, Yuugi pulled out his notebook and pen, scribbling his phone number down and tearing it out to hand to Atem. “Let me know when you're free, yeah?”

Atem looked down to the paper, flashing Yuugi another charming smile before folding the paper and slipping it into his pocket along with the ascot. “Yeah, definitely.”

“Yuugi!”

The voice came from behind Atem, and Yuugi watched as Téa trotted towards him, waving to grab his attention.

“I'll be in touch,” Atem said to him softly with a wink, turning and passing Téa with a nod and a smile.

Téa looked over her shoulder to watch Atem walk away, then turned back to Yuugi. “Who was that?” she asked, that knowing glint she would get shimmering in her eye.

“Who?” Yuugi asked, feigning cluelessness and looking back to the Embodiment of Spirit.

“Don't you give me that,” Téa said, nudging Yuugi with her elbow. “I saw you talking to probably the most beautiful person I've ever seen. C'mon, spill!”

Yuugi hummed, not taking his eyes off the purple petals of the rose statue. “Just... someone I had a bit of an adventure with while I was here.”

“Adventure?” Téa repeated, one eyebrow arched. “Yuugi, we've talked about this, public sex with strangers is socially frowned upon-”

Colour flooded Yuugi's cheeks as he laughed so hard he wheezed. “What, only doing it with strangers is bad?” he questioned.

“Sure,” Téa shrugged. “I mean, what's a public handjob between friends?”

“Téa, oh my god-”

“Hey, you two!” Joey's voice cut through the din of the gallery. They looked over to see him and Tristan standing by the Abyss of the Deep piece. “Let's get outta here, I'm starvin'!”

“Food sounds good, huh?” Téa said, linking her arm through Yuugi's and starting to walk towards the other two.

“Yeah,” Yuugi said, “I think I've had enough of art galleries for a little while,”

Téa looked confused.

“I'll tell you more later,” Yuugi said as they joined Joey and Tristan, making for the exit.

As they passed through the front entrance of the gallery, Yuugi felt someone brush up against him. Turning, he found himself meeting a pair of bright brown, doe-like eyes, peering at him from behind a shock of hair so blond it was more appropriate to call it silver.

“I'm sorry!” the person said, trotting past him with a sheepish smile as he passed.

Yuugi stared back at him, paused in place by disbelief. He only snapped out of it when Téa pulled on his arm.

“You know that guy?” she asked, looking back to the boy who had stopped to look at a painting close to the entrance, awe obvious on his face.

Yuugi hesitated, wondering if something was playing tricks on his mind. Smiling, Yuugi decided maybe it was best to let matters lie where they fall.

As Yuugi looked on, the boy turned, meeting his gaze. They stood, just looking at each other, before the boy smiled, waved, then disappeared into the crowd.

“Not really...” Yuugi replied, starting their path away from the gallery as he pulled out his phone to find a new message from an unknown number.

 

“But I have a feeling we'll see each other again.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... here we are. the end of this silly little crossover fic i started on a whim. 
> 
> i'm going to be honest, i'm not that happy with it. it's pretty sloppy and all over the place, but in the end, there is something i'm proud of.  
> this is the first fanfiction i've ever finished that isn't a self-insert fanfiction. back when i was in middle school and frequenting deviantart, my friends and i flooded out page with fullmetal alchemist self-insert fic. since i wrote those, i've never really been able to see a fanfic through to the end. however, this mediocre crossover fic proves that maybe i can sit my ass down and finish something.
> 
> i wanna thank everyone who took the time to read this. your comments, kudos, and even just seeing that people read this at all is helping me through one of the toughest points i've been mentally and emotionally in my life. being able to bring a little joy into someone elses life makes me feel a bit better.
> 
> now, let's address the elephant in the room for those of you who played Ib; i know Mary just straight up dies at the end of the Promise of Reunion route. but like... i can't just kill Ryou like what the heck????? the poor boy just wants to live. so through fanfic powers, the boy gets to live, because i say so. 
> 
> ALSO i'm sorry for any blatant mistakes, i'm just kind of immediately posting this without reviewing it lmao. feel free to yell at me about anything too bad.
> 
> i'm considering doing a celebratory stream of Ib for finishing this, check me out at 0megalucario.tumblr.com to see if that actually happens!
> 
> thanks again for everyone who read this and stuck through til the end. i'll see you guys in the next fic! <3


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